Mid-Afternoon Market Update: eBay Rises After PayPal Spin-Off; Ford Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 17,054.13 while the NASDAQ declined 0.20 percent to 4,496.79. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21 percent to 1,973.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.04 percent on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Xueda Education Group (NYSE: XUE), up 6 percent, and Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ: CALM), up 2.8 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.21 percent. Top losers in the sector included TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSE: TA), down 15.2 percent, and Warren Resources (NASDAQ: WRES), off 9.8 percent.

Top Headline

Walgreen Co (NYSE: WAG) reported in-line profit for the fourth quarter.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company posted a quarterly net loss of $239 million, versus net earnings of $657 million, in the year-ago quarter. The company’s net loss per share was $0.25 per share, versus earnings of $0.69 per share. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.74 per share in the latest quarter.

Its sales increased 6.2% to $19.06 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.74 per share on revenue of $19.02 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Move (NASDAQ: MOVE) shares shot up 37.15 percent to $20.97 after the company agreed to be acquired by News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) for $21 per share, or $950 million.

Shares of Teekay (NYSE: TK) got a boost, shooting up 13.70 percent to $66.36 after the company adopted a new dividend policy and announced its plans to increase dividend by 75%-80%.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) shares were also up, gaining 7.91 percent to $56.83 after the company announced its plans to separate eBay and PayPal into two publicly traded companies in 2015.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSE: TA) were down 15.23 percent to $9.85 after the company reported Q2 earnings of $0.36 per share on revenue of $2.08 billion.

DreamWorks Animation SKG (NASDAQ: DWA) shares tumbled 2.73 percent to $27.41 on a report that acquisition talks between DreamWorks and SoftBank (OTC: SFTBY) had cooled down. DreamWorks shares jumped 26.03% Monday on rumor of Softbank bid.

Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) was down, falling 2.08 percent to $14.80. Ford cut its 2014 pretax profit forecast to $6 billion, versus its prior outlook of $7 billion to $8 billion. The company said it will take a 2014 pre-tax loss of $1.2 billion in Europe and will lose another $250 million in the region during 2015. Ford also expected a pre-tax 2014 loss of $1 billion in South America. Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache lowered the price target on Ford from $20.00 to $18.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.66 percent to $91.11, while gold traded down 0.70 percent to $1,210.30.

Silver traded down 2.83 percent Tuesday to $17.07, while copper fell 1.50 percent to $3.01.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.61 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.31 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.78 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.55 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 1.33 percent while UK shares fell 0.36 percent.

Economics

The ICSC-Goldman Store Sales Index dropped 0.2% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.5% in the first four weeks of September versus August.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index increased 0.6% in July, versus a 1% gain in June. After seasonal adjustments, US home prices dropped 0.5% in July.

The Chicago PMI fell to 60.50 in September, versus a prior reading of 64.30. However, economists a reading of 62.00.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 86.00 in September, versus a prior reading of 92.40. However, economists were expecting a reading of 92.50.