Mid-Day Market Update: Netflix Surges After Strong Q1 Print; Apellis Pharmaceuticals Shares Slide

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.03 percent to 24,825.38 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.33 percent to 7,251.59. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.98 percent to 2,703.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the real estate shares climbed 1.59 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Prologis, Inc. PLD, up 4 percent, and Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. REXR, up 4 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 0.09 percent.

Top Headline

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS reported better-than-expected profit for its first quarter.

The bank said it earned $6.95 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $10.04 billion versus expectations of $5.58 per share on revenue of $8.74 billion.

Goldman Sachs increased its dividend from $0.75 per share to $0.80 per share.

Equities Trading UP

ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc. CNET shares shot up 39 percent to $3.43 following Q4 results. ChinaNet Online reported a Q4 loss of $0.50 per share on revenue of $15.43 million.

Shares of KBS Fashion Group Limited KBSF got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $5.93 after the company reported signing of a cooperative agreement to open Amazon and Alibaba Express online stores.

Netflix, Inc. NFLX shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $331.11 after the company reported better-than-expected sales for its first quarter Net streaming additions came in at 7.41 million, also beating estimates by nearly 1 million. The company issued strong second-quarter guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. APLS shares dropped 14 percent to $25.8797 after the company reported a proposed offering of common stock.

Shares of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BLCM were down 12 percent to $7.91 after the company reported a 7 million share common stock offering.

SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC was down, falling around 10 percent to $2.7702 after reporting a fourth-quarter earnings and sales beat, but downbeat guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.08 percent to $66.27 while gold traded down 0.47 percent to $1,344.40.

Silver traded up 0.08 percent Tuesday to $16.69, while copper fell 0.71 percent to $3.095.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.85 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.47 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.38 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.88 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.37 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts rose 1.9 percent to an annual pace of 1.32 million in March. Economists were expecting a 1.27 million rate.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.5 percent during the first week of April versus March.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.5 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Chicago at 1:40 p.m. ET.