Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Dicks Sporting Goods Sales Miss Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.68 percent to 25,348.75 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.67 percent to 7,631.17. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.56 percent to 2,798.57.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the technology shares gained 0.63 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Micron Technology, Inc. MU, up 6 percent, and Quantum Corp QTM, up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd IGLD, down 9 percent, and Telekomnks Indn Prsr Tbk Prshn Prsrn-ADR TLK down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc DKS posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed expectations. The company also disclosed that it will no longer provide quarterly guidance.

Adjusted earnings came in at $1.22 per share, beating estimates by 2 cents. The company’s sales came in at $2.66 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of 2.73 billion. Its same-store sales slipped 2.0 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc PTI shares shot up 72 percent to $7.11 after the biopharmaceutical company that focuses on treating diseases caused by an imbalance in the proteostasis network announced an update. The company said the FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for its PTI-428, a cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) amplifier.

Shares of Innovate Biopharmaceuticals Inc INNT got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $22.30. Innovate Biopharmaceuticals named Dr. June Almenoff as COO and Chief Medical Officer.

BlueLinx Holdings Inc. BXC shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $34.15. BlueLinx shares gained 77.52 percent Monday after the company reported a $413 million merger with Cedar Creek.

Equities Trading DOWN

Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. CVGI shares dropped 20 percent to $8.87 after the company posted downbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of CounterPath, Corp. CPAH were down 18 percent to $3.80 after the company reported results for its third quarter.

Fanhua Inc (ADR) FANH was down, falling around 12 percent to $28.46. Fanhua reported Q4 earnings of $0.30 per share on sales of $106.12 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.15 percent to $61.27 while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,319.20.

Silver traded down 0.16 percent Tuesday to $16.51, while copper fell 0.05 percent to $3.1225.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.53 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.25 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.33 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.33 percent.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index increased 0.7 point to a reading of 107.6 in February.

The consumer price index increased 0.2 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent growth.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.3 percent during the first week of March versus February.

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