Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Acuity Brands Beats Q3 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.28 percent to 24,374.76 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01 percent to 7,568.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 7,565.96.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the energy shares climbed 1.83 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TransGlobe Energy Corporation TGA up 9 percent, and RPC, Inc. RES up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell 0.30 percent.

Top Headline

Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter on Tuesday.

Acuity Brands posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share on revenue of $944 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.16 per share on sales of $900.06 million.

Equities Trading UP

Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc. JNP shares shot up 31 percent to $11.425 after the company agreed to be acquired by Catalent, Inc. CTLT for $11.50 per share in cash.

Shares of Micronet Enertec Technologies, Inc. MICT got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $1.65 after the company reported a strategic transaction with 14.89 percent stakeholder BNN Technology.

VEON Ltd. VEON shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $2.90 in reaction to the announcement of two new strategic actions. The provider of connectivity and internet services said it has: 1) agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in Wind Tre to CK Hutchinson for 2.45 billion euros (approximately $2.86 billion) and 2) submitted an offer to buy Global Telecom Holding's businesses in Pakistan and Bangladesh for $2.55 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. ORMP shares dropped 8 percent to $6.51 after the company reported a $18.1 million registered direct offering.

Shares of Belmond Ltd. BEL were down 5 percent to $10.65. Barclays downgraded Belmond from Overweight to Underweight.

Epizyme, Inc. EPZM was down, falling around 8 percent to $12.60. Leerink Swann downgraded Epizyme from Outperform to Market Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.03 percent to $74.70 while gold traded up 0.65 percent to $1,249.80.

Silver traded up 1.04 percent Tuesday to $16.00, while copper fell 0.05 to $2.9425.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.18 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.6 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.02 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.79 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.4 percent during the first four weeks of June versus May.

U.S. factory orders rose 0.4 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent increase.