Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Drop; General Mills Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.08 percent to 20,889.36 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 5,894.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,370.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources Inc CLF, down 5 percent, and Haynes International, Inc. HAYN, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported upbeat earnings for its fiscal third quarter, while sales missed estimates.

General Mills posted Q3 earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $3.79 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $3.82 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Versar Inc. VSR shares shot up 32 percent to $1.49 after the company disclosed that its long-term joint venture with Johnson Controls Federal Systems was awarded up to $950 million IDIQ contract with U.S. Air Force.

Shares of Pulmatrix Inc PULM got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $3.51 after the company reported that it has received a European patent for inhaled drug delivery technology.

Beasley Broadcast Group Inc BBGI shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $12.02. Beasley Broadcast Group posted Q4 earnings of $1.57 per share on sales of $53.7 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Axsome Therapeutics Inc AXSM shares dropped 16 percent to $3.69. Axsome Therapeutics priced 3.74 million shares at $3.74 per share.

Shares of Layne Christensen Company LAYN were down around 10 percent to $8.12 after the company issued a weak sales forecast for the fourth quarter.

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company LJPC was down, falling around 9 percent to $34.90. La Jolla Pharmaceutical reported a proposed underwritten public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.20 percent to $49.01 while gold traded up 0.32 percent to $1,237.90.

Silver traded up 0.81 percent Tuesday to $17.58, while copper fell 1.11 percent to $2.6375.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.37 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.07 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.80 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.16 percent.

Economics

U.S. current account deficit declined 3.1 percent to $112.4 billion in the fourth quarter. Economists were expecting a deficit of $128.3 billion.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George is set to speak in Washington, D.C. at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak in Richmond, Va. at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in Bali, Indonesia at 9:45 p.m. ET.