Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Home Depot Beats Q3 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.30 percent to 18,812.43 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.53 percent to 5,246.27. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13 percent to 2,167.01.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, energy shares gained by 1.58 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gran Tierra Energy Inc. GTE, and Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. PTEN.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell by 1.38 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included BHP Billiton plc (ADR) BBL, down 6 percent, and Rio Tinto plc (ADR) RIO, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Home Depot Inc HD reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Home Depot earned $1.60 per share in the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.58 per share. Its revenue of $23.15 billion beat estimates by $0.1 billion.

Comparable worldwide store sales for the quarter rose 5.5 percent, while comparable store sales in the U.S. gained 5.9 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. SHIP shares shot up 109 percent to $5.75 after surging 25.00 percent on Monday.

Shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. AAP got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $161.83 as the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Monday.

TOP SHIPS Inc TOPS shares were also up, gaining 76 percent to $6.00 after gaining 20.14 percent on Monday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Synthetic Biologics Inc SYN shares dropped 37 percent to $0.905. Synthetic Biologics priced 25 million shares at $1.00 per share.

Shares of Amplify Snack Brands Inc BETR were down 25 percent to $10.07 after the company posted downbeat quarterly earnings.

Sito Mobile Ltd SITO was down, falling around 12 percent to $4.71. SITO Mobile reported Q3 earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $10.3 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.96 percent to $45.24 while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,222.00.

Silver traded up 0.19 percent Tuesday to $16.93, while copper fell 2.02 percent to $2.47.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.10 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.77 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.08 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.48 percent.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.8 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent growth.

The NY Empire State manufacturing index increased to 1.50 for November, versus a prior reading of -6.80. Economists expected a reading of -2.50.

Import prices rose 0.50 percent in October, versus expectations for a 0.40 percent gain. Export prices gained 0.20 percent, compared to economists’ estimates of a 0.20 percent growth.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.1 percent during the first two weeks of November versus October.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.10 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent growth.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Rob Kaplan is set to speak in Dallas at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will speak at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. at 1:30 p.m. ET.