Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Macy's Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 25,760.73 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.09 percent to 7,427.92. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16 percent to 2,784.10.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the energy shares climbed 0.22 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PDC Energy Inc PDCE, up 5 percent, and Flotek Industries Inc FTK, up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.89 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (ADR) IIJI, down 9 percent, and Comcast Corporation CMCSA down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Macy's Inc M reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

The company said it earned $2.82 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $8.67 billion versus expectations of $2.71 per share on revenue of $8.68 billion.

Macy's expects FY18 sales to be down 0.5 percent to 2 percent and adjusted earnings of $3.55 to $3.75 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Mallinckrodt PLC MNK shares shot up 27 percent to $20.60 as the company reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of Tenet Healthcare Corp THC got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $21.37 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its full-year forecast.

Dillard's, Inc. DDS shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $82.92 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akorn, Inc. AKRX shares dropped 31 percent to $20.90 after Fresenius Kabi AG announced an independent investigation into alleged breaches of FDA data integrity requirements related to product development. Akorn later released a statement confirming its active participation in the probe.

Shares of InspireMD Inc NSPR were down 31 percent to $2.69. InspireMD priced its 1 million share offering at $3 per share.
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NutriSystem Inc. NTRI was down, falling around 24 percent to $30.35 after reporting fourth quarter results. Adjusted earnings came in at 42 cents per share while sales came in at $131 million, up from $109 million in the same quarter of last year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from 17 cents per share to 25 cents per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.42 percent to $63.64 while gold traded down 0.11 percent to $1,331.40.

Silver traded up 0.14 percent Tuesday to $16.645, while copper fell 0.84 percent to $3.1975.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.31 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.01 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.13 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders declined 3.7 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.7 percent drop.

The trade gap in goods increased 3 percent to $74.4 billion in January.

Retail inventories gained 0.8 percent in January, while wholesale inventories rose 0.7 percent.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.6 percent during the first three weeks of February versus January.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite home price index gained 6.3 percent year-over-year in December.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index gained to 130.80 for February, versus prior reading of 125.40. Economists expected a reading of 126.20.

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index climbed to 28.00 in February, versus previous reading of 14.00. Economists were projecting a reading of 15.00.

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

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