Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1.4%; ResMed Shares Rise On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 26,214.27 while the NASDAQ gained 0.67 percent to 7,457.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.24 percent to 2,839.73.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Chesapeake Utilities Corporation CPK and American States Water Co AWR.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell 0.73 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Vale SA (ADR) VALE, down 5 percent, and Coeur Mining Inc CDE down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Johnson & Johnson JNJ reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Johnson & Johnson posted adjusted earnings of $1.74 per share in the quarter on revenue of $20.20 billion which exceeded Wall Street's expectations for $1.72 per share and $20.07 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ACM Research Inc ACMR shares shot up 17 percent to $5.58 after the company reported $38.1 million of wafer cleaning equipment orders over the past 8 weeks.

Shares of ResMed Inc. RMD got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $100.95 following a big second quarter earnings beat. Needham upgraded ResMed from Underperform to Hold.

Netflix, Inc. NFLX shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $249.92 after reporting better-than-expected sales for its fourth quarter. The company also issued strong first quarter earnings and sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

ShiftPixy Inc PIXY shares dropped 10 percent to $3.69 following quarterly results. ShiftPixy reported a Q1 loss of $0.12 per share on sales of $6.512 million. The company expects Q2 gross billings of $60 million to $65 million.

Shares of Pretium Resources Inc PVG were down 27 percent to $7.92 after the company issued an operations update of ramp-up at the high-grade gold Brucejack Mine for fourth quarter 2017 and the first six months. The company also issued guidance for the first six months of 2018.

New Oriental Education & Tech Grp (ADR) EDU was down, falling around 10 percent to $89.59 after reporting Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4 percent to $64.46 while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,337.70.

Silver traded down 0.14 percent Tuesday to $16.965, while copper fell 2.61 percent to $3.115.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.24 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.22 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.71 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.12 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.21 percent.

Economics

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index dropped to 14.00 for January, versus prior reading of 20.00. Economists projected a reading of 19.00.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago, Illinois at 6:30 p.m. ET.