Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 2%; Xenon Pharmaceuticals Shares Slide

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 21,430.46 while the NASDAQ declined 0.29 percent to 6,228.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03 percent to 2,439.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 0.67 percent in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. ZN, Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. TOO, and SunCoke Energy Inc SXC.

In trading on Tuesday, technology shares fell by 0.48 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Camtek LTD. CAMT, down 12 percent, and iRobot Corporation IRBT, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL was slapped with a $2.7 billion fine from the European Union.

The EU's antitrust body confirmed in a press release it has fined Google's parent company $2.7 billion for what it believes is unfair treatment of its own search services over its rivals. As a market leader in internet search, Google is giving an unfair and illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service.

Equities Trading UP

Handy & Harman Ltd HNH shares shot up 11 percent to $31.50 after Steel Partners Holdings LP SPLP agreed to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Handy & Harman.

Shares of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. CBI got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $19.12. Delaware Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chicago Bridge & Iron in dispute with Westinghouse Electric, Reuters reported.

Avenue Therapeutics Inc ATXI shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $8.12. Avenue Therapeutics priced its 5.5 million share IPO at $6.00 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc ALDR shares dropped 19 percent to $15.10 following the inconclusive results from its Promise 1 Phase 3 trial of Eptinezumab, the company's lead product for migraine prevention. Although the trial met primary and secondary endpoints, the Street is worried that several notable parts of the data were concerning, namely the statistical significance for the 100mg dose and against Placebo.

Shares of Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc RARX were down 20 percent to $17.73 after the company issued updates on Phase 2 trial of RA101495.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc XENE was down, falling around 20 percent to $3.03 after the company reported results from Phase II study of TV-45070 in patients with PHN. The study did not meet primary and secondary endpoints.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.26 percent to $44.36 while gold traded down 0.06 percent to $1,247.20.

Silver traded down 0.04 percent Tuesday to $16.625, while copper rose 0.87 percent to $2.6615.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.81 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.41 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.04 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.78 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.72 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.17 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Sales Index rose 0.6 percent during the first four weeks of June versus May.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 118.90 in June, versus previous reading of 117.90. Economists expected a reading of 116.90.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index rose to 7.00 in June, versus a prior reading of 1.00.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak in London at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Houghton, Michigan at 5:30 p.m. ET.