Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Lands' End Posts Upbeat Q1 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 25,320.71 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.27 percent to 7,680.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,786.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the utilities shares surged 0.65 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TerraForm Power, Inc. TERP up 5 percent, and Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. FGP up 4 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.39 percent.

Top Headline

Lands' End, Inc. LE reported upbeat results for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Lands' End posted a quarterly loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $299.83 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.17 per share on revenue of $285.0 million. Its same-store sales fell 18.9 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. GLMD shares shot up 204 percent to $21.41. Galmed Pharmaceuticals released Phase 2b data for Arabchol that is evaluated in a study called ARREST for treating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which showed statistically significant reduction in liver fat, as demonstrated by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in patients completing 52 weeks of treatment with a 400mg doss compared to placebo.

Shares of RH RH got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $152.17 trading after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter. The company issued strong second-quarter earnings and sales guidance.

Lands' End, Inc. LE shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $28.2155 after the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

SITO Mobile, Ltd. SITO shares dropped 20 percent to $3.00 after the company issued a weak sales forecast for the second quarter.

Shares of Enzo Biochem, Inc. ENZ were down 10 percent to $6.05 after reporting a third-quarter earnings miss.

Griffon Corporation GFF was down, falling around 10 percent to $20.57. Griffon reported a 5.58 million share common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.11 percent to $66.03 while gold traded down 0.45 percent to $1,297.40.

Silver traded down 0.84 percent Tuesday to $16.81, while copper fell 0.20 to $3.2505.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.43 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.72 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.21 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.29 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The NFIB small business optimism index gained 3 points to a reading of 107.8 in May.

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain.

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

The Treasury will auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for May will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.