Mid-Day Market Update: LDR Rises On Acquisition News; DryShips Shares Drop

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.44 percent to 18,000.01 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.08 percent to 4,972.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39 percent to 2,117.56.

Tuesday morning, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from

and

. In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell by 0.35 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 13 percent, and

, down 13 percent.

reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and reduced its full year adjusted earnings outlook. Valeant posted a net loss of $373.7 million, or a loss of $1.08 per share in the first quarter of 2016 compared to net income of $97.7 million, or $0.28 per share in the first quarter of 2015. Excluding adjustments, it would have reported earnings of $1.27 per share, down sharply from 2.05 per share in the year-ago quarter. Street analysts expected the company to report earnings of $1.37 a share. The company delivered total revenue of $2.4 billion for the first quarter representing an increase of 9 percent over the previous year quarter. Street predicted $2.38 billion.

shares shot up 150 percent to $2.62 after the company reported that it has sold Zhonghe to Wuxi Huitong Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. (Huitong) for around $62.3 million. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $15.41 as the company reported a surprise profit for the second quarter.

shares were also up, gaining 64 percent to $36.94 as the company agreed to be acquired by

for $37 per share.

shares dropped 45 percent to $1.31 after the company announced that it has breached some financial covenants. The company also said that it has yet to make final balloon installments on three matured banking facilities and three lenders have declared event a default. Shares of

were down 13 percent to $25.18 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and reduced its full year adjusted earnings outlook.

was down, falling around 12 percent to $2.22. Optical Cable reported a Q2 loss of $0.15 per share on revenue of $16.3 million.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.76 percent to $50.07 while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,243.00. Silver traded down 0.47 percent Tuesday to $16.37, while copper fell 3.23 percent to $2.05.

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 1.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.86 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.95 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.62 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.26 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.12 percent.

U.S. nonfarm productivity declined 0.6 percent in the first quarter, versus a prior reading of 1 percent drop. Unit-labor costs increased 4.5 percent in the quarter, versus a prior reading of 4.1 percent growth. Data on consumer credit for April will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.