Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Silver Bay Realty Trust Climbs On Acquisition News; Essendant Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 20,806.34 while the NASDAQ declined 0.64 percent to 5,824.66. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.32 percent to 2,362.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed by 0.72 percent in trading on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.78 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Libbey Inc. LBY, down 16 percent, and Target Corporation TGT, down 13 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.

The company reported earnings per share of $1.45 on revenue of $20.69 billion. Analysts were expecting Target to earn $1.51 per share in the quarter on revenue of $20.70 billion.

Comparable sales for the quarter fell 1.5 percent, which was on the high-end of the company's own guidance of negative 1.5 to negative 1.0 percent.

Equities Trading UP

LSB Industries, Inc. LXU shares shot up 23 percent to $10.88. LSB Industries reported a Q4 loss of $21.5 million on revenue of $85.4 million.

Shares of Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp SBY got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $21.47. Tricon Capital Group Inc. announced plans to buy Silver Bay Realty Trust for $21.50 per share.

NutriSystem Inc. NTRI shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $46.95 as the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and issued a strong outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN

Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc FRGI shares dropped 24 percent to $19.83. Fiesta Restaurant posted in-line Q4 earnings, but sales missed estimates. The company also disclosed that it has suspended its sale exploration process and appointed a new CEO. Raymond James downgraded Fiesta Restaurant from Outperform to Market Perform.

Shares of Essendant Inc ESND were down around 28 percent to $16.00. Essendant reported a Q4 loss of $2.4 million on revenue of $1.25 billion.

Cempra Inc CEMP was down, falling around 17 percent to $3.47 after the company reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.31 percent to $53.88 while gold traded down 0.69 percent to $1,250.10.

Silver traded down 0.09 percent Tuesday to $18.40, while copper rose 0.76 percent to $2.72.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.19 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.96 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.01 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.10 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.28 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy grew 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.1 percent growth.

The U.S. trade deficit for goods widened 7.6 percent to $69.2 billion in January.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.4 percent year-over-year for the week ended February 25.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.9 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent gain.

The Chicago PMI rose 7.1 points to 57.4 for February.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 114.80 in February, versus a prior reading of 111.80. Economists projected a reading of 111.00.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Philadelphia, Penn. at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Santa Cruz, Calif. at 3:30 p.m. ET.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President Bullard will speak at George Washington University in D.C. at 6:30 p.m. ET.

President Donald Trump is set to speak at 9:00 p.m. ET.