Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; AutoZone Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 19,201.92 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.03 percent to 5,310.40. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,204.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.49 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell by 0.58 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Tidewater Inc. TDW, down 7 percent, and SunPower Corporation SPWR, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter, but sales missed estimates.

Autozone reported Q1 earnings of $9.36 per share on revenue of $2.46 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $9.31 per share on revenue of $2.49 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Neovasc Inc (US) NVCN shares shot up 37 percent to $1.94 after the company issued an update on its Tiara mitral valve clinical program.

Shares of Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $1.80 after the company disclosed that it has been awarded a patent for its Oilfield Wastewater Treatment Device.

Intralinks Holdings Inc IL shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $13.15 after Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. SNCR announced plans to buy Intralinks for around $821 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Safe Bulkers, Inc. SB shares dropped 16 percent to $1.13 after announcing a public offering of common stock.

Shares of Barnes & Noble Education Inc BNED were down 15 percent to $9.84 after the company reported weak results for its second quarter.

Rent-A-Center Inc RCII was down, falling around 11 percent to $10.60. Raymond James downgraded Rent-A-Center from Strong Buy to Market Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.30 percent to $50.60 while gold traded down 0.33 percent to $1,172.60.

Silver traded down 0.50 percent Tuesday to $16.82, while copper fell 1.15 percent to $2.67.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.61 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.66 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.73 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.63 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

The U.S. trade deficit rose around 18 percent to $42.6 billion in October, versus a revised $36.2 billion in September. Economists were expecting a deficit of $42.1 billion. Imports rose 1.3 percent to $229 billion, while exports declined 1.8 percent to $186.4 billion in October.

Non-farm productivity increased at an annual pace of 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter, while unit-labor costs rose 0.7 percent in the quarter.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.2 percent for the first week of December, versus November.

U.S. factory orders rose 2.70 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.60 percent growth.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.