Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; General Motors Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.69 percent to 23,433.74 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.05 percent to 6,590.21. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 2,567.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the energy shares surged 0.59 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Core Laboratories N.V. CLB, up 4 percent, and CARBO Ceramics Inc. CRR, up 4 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell 1.17 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included MannKind Corporation MNKD, down 8 percent, and Omeros Corporation OMER down 7 percent.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported upbeat results for its third quarter.

General Motors posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.32 per share on revenue of $33.66 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $32.7 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON shares shot up 31 percent to $2.23 as the company disclosed that it will provide wastewater treatment products and services totaling $2 million to Qinghai Oilfield Company.

Shares of Long Island Iced Tea Corp LTEA got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $2.79 after the company disclosed preliminary unaudited net sales results for the third quarter. Long Island Iced Tea expects Q3 sales of $1.64 billion, up from $1.30 billion in the year-ago period.

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. PTIE shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $4.75 after the company reported successful Phase I study for PTI-125.

Equities Trading DOWN

Identiv Inc INVE shares dropped 19 percent to $3.24 after the company lowered its FY17 outlook.

Shares of HNI Corp HNI were down 20 percent to $33.96 after the company issued a weak earnings forecast.

Immune Design Corp IMDZ was down, falling around 13 percent to $4.55 after the company reported a 16 million share common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.54 percent to $52.18 while gold traded down 0.24 percent to $1,277.80.

Silver traded down 0.41 percent Tuesday to $17.005, while copper rose 1 percent to $3.22.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.69 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.88 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.42 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.02 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 1.3 percent during the first three weeks of October versus September.

The Markit flash manufacturing PMI climbed to 54.5 in October, versus a prior reading of 53.10. The flash services PMI rose to 55.9 in October, compared to previous reading of 55.3.

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

The Treasury will auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.