Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Brown Shoe Shares Rise On Earnings Beat; Casey's Tumbles

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 17,842.88 while the NASDAQ surged 0.17 percent to 4,762.98. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04 percent to 2,070.22.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Tuesday, industrials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.36 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Dycom Industries (NYSE: TASR, up 5.2 percent.

Energy sector was the top decliner in the US market on Tuesday. Top losers in the sector included Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC NKA, Alpha Natural Resources ANR, and Arch Coal ACI.

The Camden, New Jersey-based company posted a quarterly profit of $368 million, or $0.74 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $305 million, or $0.57 per share.

Its sales climbed 4% to $2.26 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $2.22 billion.
Equities Trading UP

Dycom Industries DY shares shot up 13.85 percent to $29.83 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Shares of Brown Shoe Co BWS got a boost, shooting up 10.25 percent to $31.40 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and raised its FY15 forecast.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co QIHU shares were also up, gaining 7.31 percent to $74.54 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued a strong Q4 revenue forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Amira Nature Foods ANFI were down 7.57 percent to $15.99 on Q2 results. The company reported Q2 earnings of $0.29 per share on revenue of $141.40 million.

Fred's FRED shares tumbled 9.40 percent to $15.32 after the company reported downbeat Q3 earnings and issued a weak Q4 forecast. The company also promoted Craig Barnes to General Merchandising Manager.

Casey's General Stores CASY was down, falling 7.56 percent to $81.22 after the company announced that its financial results must be revised due to a tax related error.
Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.89 percent to $74.35, while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,198.60.

Silver traded up 1.16 percent Tuesday to $16.63, while copper fell 1.35 percent to $2.97.
Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.16 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.54 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.77 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.32 percent while UK shares rose 0.02 percent.
Economics

The ICSC-Goldman Store Sales Index gained 2.2% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.8% in the first three weeks of November versus October.

The US economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.9% in the third quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.3% growth.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 4.9% from a year ago, beating expectations of 4.6% increase. Seasonally adjusted, prices in 20 cities increased 0.3% in September, after falling 0.1% in August.

The FHFA Home Price Index came in flat in September, versus economists’ expectations for a a 0.4% gain.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped to 88.70 in November, versus economists’ estimates of 96.00.

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index slipped to 4.00 in November, versus a prior reading of 20.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 16.00.