Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Pain Therapeutics Jumps On Clinical Study Data; Big 5 Sporting Goods Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.49 percent to 25,406.90 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.25 percent to 7,175.03. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 2,756.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Abaxis Inc ABAX and Nektar Therapeutics NKTR.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 0.85 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Artesian Resources Corporation ARTNA, down 5 percent, and Black Hills Corp BKH down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Acuity Brands reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $1.94 per share on revenue of $842.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.10 per share on sales of $875 million.

Equities Trading UP

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. PTIE shares shot up 155 percent to $10.77 after the company announced encouraging results from a study involving its late-stage drug candidate, REMOXY. Pain Therapeutics said that REMOXY, a drug candidate intended to be an abuse-deterrent for opioid, achieved positive results. Specifically, study results among non-dependent, recreational opioid users, found that the nasal administration of REMOXY resulted in significantly lower abuse potential versus immediate-release oxycodone.

Shares of Kenon Holdings Ltd KEN got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $28.91 after the company disclosed that a China-based investor acquired a controlling interest in its Qoros Automobile joint venture.

MMA Capital Management LLC MMAC shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $29.02. MMA Capital reported the sale of asset management business for $57 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Axsome Therapeutics Inc AXSM shares dropped 36 percent to $3.55. Axsome Therapeutics reported that AXS-02 independent data monitoring committee recommended the continuation of COAST-1 trial and discontinuation of CREATE-1 trial.

Shares of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation BGFV were down 17 percent to $6.53 after the sporting goods retailer guided its fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2017 estimates below the Street's estimates. The company expects to report sales of $243.2 million in the fourth quarter versus estimates of $263.47 million and guided its full year sales to be $1.01 billion versus estimates of $1.03 billion.

e.l.f. Beauty Inc ELF was down, falling around 14 percent to $18.90 after the company reconfirmed its fiscal 2017 outlook. The company sees its fiscal 2017 EPS as falling a penny short of estimates, ending at 55 cents per share. At $270 million, sales are also expected to just barely miss estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.68 percent to $62.77 while gold traded down 0.64 percent to $1,312.00.

Silver traded down 0.93 percent Tuesday to $16.985, while copper fell 0.22 percent to $3.217.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.27 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.70 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.67 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.45 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.1 percent during the first week of January versus December.

U.S. job openings dropped to 5.88 million in November, compared to 5.93 million in the previous month.