Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Avinger Drops After Q4 Results; MeetMe Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 20,934.21 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 5,842.08. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.19 percent to 2,370.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose 0.37 percent in trading on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell by 0.57 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. FOLD, down 9 percent, and Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. CLDX, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc DKS posted upbeat quarterly earnings, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

DICK'S reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.32 per share on revenue of $2.5 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.30 per share on revenue of $2.47 billion.

DICK'S expects Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.50 to $0.55 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.61 per share. Dicks projects FY17 adjusted earnings of $3.65 to $3.75 per share, versus estimates of $3.75 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Nimble Storage Inc NMBL shares shot up 45 percent to $12.52 after Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE announced plans to acquire Nimble Storage for $12.50 per share in cash. Nimble Storage reported a Q4 loss of $0.12 per share on revenue of $117 million.

Shares of MeetMe Inc MEET got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $5.86 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results. The company also agreed to acquire If(we), Inc. for $60.0 million in cash.

NTN Buzztime Inc NTN shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $7.22. NTN Buzztime reported a Q4 loss of $0.22 per share on revenue of $5.98 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Avinger Inc AVGR shares dropped 19 percent to $2.13 after the company reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.

Shares of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. CVU were down around 14 percent to $7.30 on downbeat quarterly results.

IDT Corporation IDT was down, falling around 15 percent to $15.88 following Q2 results. IDT reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $875,000.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.02 percent to $53.21 while gold traded down 0.77 percent to $1,216.10.

Silver traded down 1.34 percent Tuesday to $17.54, while copper fell 1.36 percent to $2.62.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.35 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.15 percent.

Economics

The U.S. trade deficit increased 9.6 percent to $48.5 billion in January, versus a revised $44.3 billion in December. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $48.5 billion.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.8 percent during the first week of March versus February.

Data on consumer credit for January will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.