Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Tiffany Rises Following Q1 Beat; Red Robin Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.51 percent to 24,706.84 while the NASDAQ declined 0.11 percent to 7,370.02. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.32 percent to 2,715.71.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the real estate shares surged 0.56 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc. AHH, up 3 percent, and UMH Properties, Inc. UMH up 3 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 1.24 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Target's Q1 adjusted earnings per share rose 9.4 percent to $1.32, trailing the $1.38 consensus estimate. Total revenues climbed 3.4 percent to $16.78 billion, which came on the back of 3-percent comps growth and 3.7-percent traffic growth. Analysts, on average, estimated revenue of $16.5 billion.

The company forecast both GAAP EPS from continuing operations and adjusted EPS of $1.30-$1.50, representing a 15-percent increase from last year at the midpoint.

Equities Trading UP

Cara Therapeutics, Inc. CARA shares shot up 31 percent to $15.17 in reaction to a new licensing agreement with Europe-based Vifor Pharma. As part of the agreement, the biopharmaceutical company that alleviates pain licensed worldwide rights (except U.S., Japan, and South Korea) to Vifor Pharma to commercialize its KORSUVA therapy to Vifor $70 million.

Shares of Tiffany & Co. TIF got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $122.74 after the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter and raised its FY2018 earnings guidance.

EVO Payments, Inc. EVOP shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $19.56. EVO Payments priced its IPO at $16 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. RRGB shares dropped 19 percent to $46.775 after the company reported downbeat results for its first quarter and issued a weak earnings forecast for the second quarter.

Shares of Pfenex Inc. PFNX were down 17 percent to $5.70. Pfenex priced its 6.8 million share offering at $5.50 per share.

Ardelyx, Inc. ARDX was down, falling around 14 percent to $3.90. Ardelyx priced its 12.5 million share offering at $4.00 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.79 percent to $71.63 while gold traded down 0.18 percent to $1,295.10.

Silver traded down 0.94 percent Wednesday to $16.42, while copper fell 1.98 to $3.07.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dipped 1.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 1.47 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.32 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.13 percent.

Economics

The IHS Markit flash manufacturing PMI rose to 56.6 in May, compared to 56.5 in April.

New-home sales fell 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 662,000 in April.

Crude supplies rose 5.8 million barrels for the week ended May 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a drop of 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles gained 1.9 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1 million barrels for the week.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its meeting.