Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; McCormick Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 24,178.95 while the NASDAQ declined 0.16 percent to 7,209.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,655.44.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the information technology shares gained 0.41 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cheetah Mobile Inc. CMCM, up 8 percent, and Sierra Wireless, Inc. SWIR, up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 0.49 percent.

Top Headline

McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised its FY18 earnings guidance.

McCormick reported adjusted earnings of $1.00 per share on revenue of $1.24 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.91 per share on sales of $1.24 billion.

McCormick now expects FY18 adjusted earnings of $4.85 to $4.95 per share, versus earlier forecast of $4.80 to $4.90 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Astrotech Corporation ASTC shares shot up 28 percent to $2.5899 as the company disclosed that its new explosives trace detector, the TRACER 1000, has been accepted into the Transportation Security Administration’s Air Cargo Screening Technology Qualification Test program..

Shares of InspireMD, Inc. NSPR got a boost, shooting up 30 percent to $2.6501 after the company disclosed that it has received regulatory approval for both CGuard EPS and MGuard Prime in Peru.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. SHOS shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $2.549.

Equities Trading DOWN

Longfin Corp. LFIN shares dropped 30 percent to $41.28 after FTSE Russell release showed that the co. failed to meet minimum 5% free float requirement as of February 14 cut off date and will be removed from the Russell Indexes on March 28 after the close.

Shares of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation RXII were down 17 percent to $3.388 after the company reported Q4 results and recent corporate highlights. RXi Pharma posted aQ4 loss of $0.84 per share on sales of $15,000.

Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK was down, falling around 8 percent to $40.85 after announcing a proposed 4-million-share common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.11 percent to $66.28 while gold traded down 1 percent to $1,347.40.

Silver traded down 0.71 percent Tuesday to $16.565, while copper rose 0.77 percent to $2.993.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.32 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 1.74 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.37 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.98 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.1 percent during the first three weeks of March versus February.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 6.4 percent year-over-year for January.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 127.7 in March, versus a revised 130 in February. Economists projected a reading of 131.0.

The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index declined to 15.00 for March, versus previous reading of 28.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 23.00.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Atlanta, Georgia at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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

The Treasury will auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.