Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Down; Caterpillar Tops Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.04 percent to 25,442.08 while the NASDAQ declined 0.77 percent to 7,678.07. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.17 percent to 2,814.07.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the telecommunication services shares climbed 2.03 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included pdvWireless, Inc. PDVW up 3 percent, and AT&T Inc. T up 3 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1.44 percent.

Top Headline

Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter and raised its full-year profit outlook.

The company said it earned $2.97 per share in the quarter on revenue of $14.011 billion versus expectations of $2.73 per share and $13.88 billion. Management also lifted its full year 2018 EPS from $10.25-$11.25 to a new range of $11.00-$12.00 versus the Street's estimate of $10.87 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Avalon Holdings Corporation AWX shares shot up 33 percent to $13.58. The nano-cap U.S.-based waste management company has seen its stock soar nearly 375 percent last week.

Shares of RLJ Entertainment, Inc. RLJE got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $6.16 after AMC Networks Inc. AMCX announced plans to acquire the company in a $274 million deal.

Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. SLNO shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $2.76 after receiving Fast Track designation from the FDA for DCCR for the treatment of Prader-Willi syndrome.

Equities Trading DOWN

Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY shares dropped 39 percent to $1.2273 after declining 70.72 percent on Friday.

Shares of Sohu.com Limited SOHU were down 20 percent to $24.425 after reporting Q2 results.

Changyou.com Limited CYOU was down, falling around 9 percent to $13.6643 following Q2 results. Changyou.com reported Q2 earnings of $0.52 per share on sales of $112.827 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.36 percent to $70.31 while gold traded down 0.06 percent to $1,231.90.

Silver traded up 0.21 percent Monday to $15.525, while copper fell 0.54 to $2.787.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.24 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.21 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.21 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.16 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.10 percent.

Economics

U.S. pending home sales increased 0.9 percent to a reading of 106.9 in June. However, economists projected a 0.4 percent rise for June.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for July will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.