Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Target Earnings Miss Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.91 percent to 24,540.09 while the NASDAQ declined 1.78 percent to 6,903.68. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.55 percent to 2,649.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG up 3 percent, and Duke Energy Corp DUK up 2 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell 3.3 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT announced weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Target posted quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share on revenue of $17.82 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.12 per share on revenue of $17.81 billion. Its same-store sales rose 5.1 percent during the quarter.

Target expects FY18 adjusted earnings of $5.30 to $5.50 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.41 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Noah Holdings Limited NOAH shares shot up 13 percent to $46.28 following Q3 results. Noah Holdings posted Q3 earnings of $0.50 per share on sales of $122.83 million.

Shares of Bioblast Pharma Ltd. ORPN got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $1.33 after the company announced it will acquire Enlivex to advance a clinical state immunotherapeutic drug pipeline for treatment of life-threatening immune conditions.

Campbell Soup Company CPB shares were also up, gaining 7 percent to $41.15 after the company reported upbeat Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

L Brands, Inc. LB shares dropped 15 percent to $29.44 after reporting third-quarter results. The company announced it was cutting its quarterly dividend in half from 60 cents per share to 30 cents per share. L Brands also named John Mehas as CEO of Victoria’s Secret.

Shares of Eastside Distilling, Inc. EAST were down 15 percent to $6.3094. Eastside Drilling priced its 1.235 million share offering at $6.50 per share.

FTE Networks, Inc. FTNW was down, falling around 18 percent to $5.00 after the company reported Q3 results. FTE Networks posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.04 per share on sales of $92.224 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3 percent to $57.17 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,228.50.

Silver traded up 0.36 percent Tuesday to $14.455, while copper rose 0.48 percent to $2.82.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.96 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 1.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.97 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.13 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.48 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts rose 1.5 percent at an annual rate of 1.23 million for October. However, economists were expecting a 1.24 million rate.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.2 percent during the first two weeks of November versus October.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.