Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Tumble; Google Creates 'Alphabet,' A New Umbrella Company

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.93 percent to 17,451.45 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.58 percent to 5,072.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.74 percent to 2,088.72.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities shares slipped by just 0.1 percent in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included American Midstream Partners LP AMID, Entergy Corporation ETR, and Westar Energy Inc WR.
In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares dipped by 2.68 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX, down 12 percent, and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI, off 7 percent.

Top Headline
Google Inc GOOGL GOOG announced it is creating a new company, Alphabet, which will consist of a collection of companies, with the largest being Google.
Google Co-Founder and CEO Larry Page will act as Alphabet's new CEO, while Sundar Pichai will step up to be Google’s new CEO. Sergey Brin will act as Alphabet’s president. Alphabet, for its part, will include Google’s X lab, which incubates new projects like Wing, and investment arms, Ventures and Capital, among other companies.
Equities Trading UP
Yodlee Inc YDLE shares shot up 36 percent to $17.15 after the company agreed to be acquired by Envestnet Inc ENV for $18.88 per share or $660 million. Yodlee reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.00 per share on revenue of $26 million.

ICU Medical, Incorporated ICUI shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $118.77 after the company reported upbeat Q2 earnings and raised its 2015 forecast.

Shares of TubeMogul Inc TUBE got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $14.27 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued a strong revenue outlook.
Equities Trading DOWN
World Acceptance Corp. WRLD shares tumbled 35 percent to $33.58 following the announcement of a receipt of letter from the CFPB's enforcement division on Monday. Janney Montgomery Scott analyst John Rowan downgraded the rating on World Acceptance from Buy to Neutral, with a fair value estimate of $38.
Shares of Avid Technology, Inc. AVID were down 34 percent to $7.89. Avid reported a Q2 loss of $0.10 per share on total sales of $109.767 million.
American Public Education, Inc. APEI was down, falling 20 percent to $20.15 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 2.98 percent to $43.62, while gold traded up 0.24 percent to $1,106.80.
Silver traded down 0.83 percent Tuesday to $15.17, while copper fell 3.54 percent to $2.32.

Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.49 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 1.35 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.97 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 2.46 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.74 percent while UK shares fell 0.94 percent.

Economics
US wholesale inventories rose 0.9 percent in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.
US nonfarm productivity gained 1.30 percent in the second quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.60 percent rise. Unit labor costs rose 0.50 percent, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.10 percent growth.