Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Walgreens Misses Q2 Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.28 percent to 26,183.67 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 7,826.23. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,865.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the materials shares rose 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd KL up 4 percent, and Lithium Americas Corp LAC up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 0.6 percent.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA reported-worse-than expected Q2 results and lowered FY19 EPS growth guidance.

Walgreens reported quarterly earnings of $1.64 per share on sales of 34.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.74 per share on sales of $34.62 billion.

Walgreens Boots Alliance lowered its FY19 adjusted EPS guidance from up 7%-12% to roughly flat.

Equities Trading UP

ADMA Biologics Inc ADMA shares got a boost, shooting up 32 percent to $5.38 after the company announced FDA approval for its Asceniv Immune Globulin Intravenous, Human - slra 10% liquid, an intravenous immune globulin drug product for the treatment of Primary Humoral Immunodeficiency Disease, or PIDD, in adults and adolescents.

Shares of Sangamo Therapeutics Inc SGMO shot up 33 percent to $12.68 after the company announced positive Phase 1/2 interim data for its investigational Hemophilia gene therapy.

Riot Blockchain Inc RIOT shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $4.54 in sympathy with Bitcoin which rose 20 percent to a 5 month high.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apyx Medical Corp APYX shares dropped 42 percent to $4.03 after the company withdrew its application for premarket notification 510(k) regulatory clearance of j-plasma/renuvion for use in dermal resurfacing procedures.

Shares of Evoke Pharma Inc EVOK were down 45 percent to $0.93 after the company received a complete response letter from the FDA addressing deficiencies in its New Drug Application for Gimoti.

Senior Housing Properties Trust SNH was down, falling around 20 percent to $9.62 after the company announced an agreement with Five Star to help the company financially by obtaining 85 percent ownership of Five Star.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3 percent to $61.77 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,293.70.

Silver traded down 1 percent Tuesday to $14.945, while copper fell 0.6 percent to $2.908.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.3 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.6 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.4 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.1 percent.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for March will be released today.

U.S. durable goods orders fell 1.6 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.1 percent drop.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was flat during the first four weeks of March versus February.