Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains 180 Points; American Woodmark Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.83 percent to 21,884.09 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.31 percent to 6,294.28. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.93 percent to 2,450.94.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the technology shares climbed by 1.27 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) BITA, up 6 percent, and Sequans Communications SA ADR SQNS, up 7 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included TransAlta Corporation (USA) TAC, down 2 percent, and Pure Cycle Corporation PCYO down 1.2 percent.

Top Headline

Toll Brothers Inc TOL reported stronger-than-expected profit for its third quarter, while revenue missed estimates

Toll Brothers posted quarterly earnings of $0.87 per share on revenue of $1.502 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ADR) EBR shares shot up 45 percent to $6.46 after the Brazil’s government proposed privatizing the company.

Shares of Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $10.72 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

DSW Inc. DSW shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $18.69 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tarena International Inc(ADR) TEDU shares dropped 23 percent to $14.25. Tarena International reported Q2 earnings of RMB$1.00 per share on sales of RMB$455.83 million. Nomura downgraded Tarena from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of Momo Inc (ADR) MOMO were down 20 percent to $36.25. Momo reported Q2 earnings of $0.35 per ADS on revenue of $312.22 million.

American Woodmark Corporation AMWD was down, falling around 10 percent to $84.15 as the company posted downbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.30 percent to $47.51 while gold traded down 0.42 percent to $1,291.30.

Silver traded down 0.21 percent Tuesday to $17.06, while copper rose 0.17 percent to $3.0065.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.83 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.48 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.11 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.87 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.86 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.2 percent during the first three weeks in August versus July.

The FHFA house price index rose 6.5 percent year-over-year for June.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index came in at 14.00 for August, versus previous reading of 14.00. Economists expected a reading of 12.00.