Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Booz Allen Hamilton Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.70 percent to 24,579.22 while the NASDAQ declined 0.30 percent to 7,411.42. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.67 percent to 2,703.19.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the consumer staples shares surged 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CV Sciences, Inc. CVSI, up 6 percent, and Sanderson Farms, Inc. SAFM up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 1.47 percent.

Top Headline

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation BAH reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Booz Allen posted adjusted earnings of $0.52 per share on revenue of $1.64 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $1.67 billion.

Booz Allen Hamilton expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $2.35 to $2.50 per share on sales growth of 6 percent to 8 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Jupai Holdings Limited JP shares shot up 16 percent to $26.48 after reporting Q1 results.

Shares of American Woodmark Corporation AMWD got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $100.05 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results.

Evolus, Inc. EOLS shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $26.67. Evolus named Lauren Silvernail as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development.

Equities Trading DOWN

Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc. RRTS shares dropped 14 percent to $1.9025. Office Depot, Inc. ODP will replace Roadrunner Transportation Systems in the S&P SmallCap 600 on Monday, June 4.

Shares of T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO were down 10 percent to $8.00 after the health care company that targets unmet needs received clearance from the FDA. The company said the FDA granted a market clearance for its T2Bacteria Panel for the direct detection of bacterial species in human whole blood specimens from patients with suspected bloodstream infections.

Fibrocell Science, Inc. FCSC was down, falling around 13 percent to $2.51. Fibrocell reported a $6.0 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.97 percent to $67.22 while gold traded down 0.57 percent to $1,301.60.

Silver traded down 1.12 percent Tuesday to $16.36, while copper rose 0.45 to $3.0915.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 tumbled 1.20 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.48 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.44 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dipped 1.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.11 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.17 percent.

Economics

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 6.8 percent year-over-year for March.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index climbed to 128 in May, versus a revised reading of 125.6 in April.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for May is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 4-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.