Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 150 Points; Pitney Bowes Shares Down On Earnings Miss

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.84 percent to 17,989.96 while the NASDAQ declined 1.08 percent to 5,133.06. The S&P also rose, dropping 1.04 percent to 2,104.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, energy shares slipped by just 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Westmoreland Coal Company WLB, and CONSOL Energy Inc. CNX.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 1.27 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) CIG, down 7 percent, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) SBS, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc PFE delivered lower than expected earnings for the third quarter

The company reported adjusted EPS of $0.61, missing expectations by $0.01. Its total revenue of $13.045 billion came in line with the estimates.

Pfizer reduced top end of full year adjusted EPS outlook from $2.38-$2.48 to $2.38-$2.43. However, it boosted lower end of revenue forecast from $51-$53.0 billion to $52-$53 billion.

Equities Trading UP

InspireMD Inc NSPR shares shot up 117 percent to $3.11 following positive CGuard results.

Shares of Skyline Medical Inc SKLN got a boost, shooting up 32 percent to $2.08 after the company disclosed that it has signed an agreement for GLG Pharma to be exclusive distributor of STREAMWAY System in the U.K.

Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc. OCLS shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $4.97 after the company disclosed that it has sold its Latin America business to Invekra S.A.P.I. de C.V. for $19.5 million in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

P H Glatfelter Co GLT shares dropped 19 percent to $17.99 after the company posted weak Q3 results.

Shares of Instructure Inc INST were down 22 percent to $19.85. Instructure reported a Q3 loss of $0.34 per share on revenue of $30.14 million. The company also issued a weak forecast.

Pitney Bowes Inc. PBI was down, falling around 17 percent to $14.73 after the company posted weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.36 percent to $46.69 while gold traded up 1.44 percent to $1,291.40.

Silver traded up 3.45 percent Tuesday to $18.41, while copper rose 0.93 percent to $2.23.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 1.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.32 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 1.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.86 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.53 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day policy meeting today.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.1 percent during October versus Septem.

The ISM manufacturing index rose to 51.90 in October, versus a prior reading of 51.50. Economists expected a reading of 51.70.

U.S. construction spending declined 0.4 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.