Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Pfizer Beats Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.18 percent to 26,126.33 while the NASDAQ declined 1.01 percent to 7,391.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.06 percent to 2,823.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares slipped by just 0.01 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares tumbled 1.75 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Pioneer Energy Services Corp PES, down 8 percent, and Denbury Resources Inc. DNR down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Pfizer posted adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $13.70 billion. However, Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.56 per share on revenue of $13.68 billion.

Pfizer expects 2018 earnings of $2.90 to $3.00 per share, on sales of $53.5 billion to $55.5 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $2.78 per share on sales of $53.9 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Thomson Reuters Corp TRI shares shot up 10 percent to $47.74 after the company confirmed advanced discussions with Blackstone regarding potential partnership in Financial & Risk business.

Shares of Callidus Software Inc. CALD got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $36.00. SAP SE (ADR) SAP announced plans to acquire Callidus Software for $36 per share.

Anixter International Inc. AXE shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $87.60 as the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co SMG shares dropped 16 percent to $90.21 after the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

Shares of Polaris Industries Inc. PII were down 11 percent to $119.07 . Polaris posted in-line Q4 earnings, but issued weak sales forecast for FY 2018.

Graco Inc. GGG was down, falling around 9 percent to $44.12 following weak quarterly earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.87 percent to $64.99 while gold traded up 0.19 percent to $1,347.60.

Silver traded up 0.60 percent Tuesday to $17.23, while copper rose 0.22 percent to $3.201.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.52 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.56 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.41 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.66 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.2 percent for November versus October.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 125.40 for January, versus prior reading of 123.10.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.