Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Johnson & Johnson Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.87 percent to 24,492.01 while the NASDAQ declined 1.2 percent to 7,071.40. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.07 percent to 2,642.16.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the utilities shares rose 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG up 10 percent, and Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. FGP up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, industrial shares fell 1.6 percent.

Top Headline

Johnson & Johnson JNJ reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak sales forecast for 2019.

Johnson & Johnson posted quarterly earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $20.4 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.95 per share on revenue of $20.17 billion.

Johnson & Johnson expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $8.50 to $8.65 per share on sales of $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion. Analysts project earnings of $8.61 per share on sales of $82.68 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Staffing 360 Solutions Inc STAF shares got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $2.74 after the company re-signed its largest client to a multi-year contract.

Shares of Mediwound Ltd MDWD shot up 22 percent to $5.33 after the company disclosed that its Phase 3 study of NexoBrid met primary and all secondary endpoints with statistically significant results compared with control group.

Neovasc Inc NVCN shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $0.88 after the company announced dismissal of a patent infringement claim by Edwards Lifesciences.

Equities Trading DOWN

Editas Medicine, Inc. EDIT shares dropped 22 percent to $20.33 after the company reported that Katrine Bosley is stepping down as President and CEO.

Shares of Arconic Inc ARNC were down 15 percent to $17.20 after the company announced its Board of Directors has determined to no longer pursue a potential sale of the company.

CRISPR Therapeutics AG CRSP was down, falling around 15 percent to $31.61. CRISPR Therapeutics and ProBioGen reported collaboration and license agreement to develop novel in vivo delivery technologies. Citigroup downgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from Neutral to Sell.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5 percent to $53.00 while gold traded down 0.02 percent to $1,282.30.

Silver traded down 0.51 percent Tuesday to $15.32, while copper fell 1.54 percent to $2.677.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.84 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.44 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.42 percent.

Economics

Existing-home sales fell 6.4 percent at an annual rate of 4.99 million in December.

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