Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Tiffany Beats Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 26,101.46 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.24 percent to 8,037.20. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 2,900.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the energy shares rose 0.47 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc. NES up 3 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.14 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY18 guidance.

Tiffany posted quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $1.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $1.04 billion. Tiffany now expects FY18 earnings of $4.65 to $4.80 per share, versus prior forecast of $4.50 to $4.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Affimed NV AFMD shares shot up 145 percent to $3.92 after the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on cancer immunotherapies announced an encouraging update. The company said it signed a new strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech and will receive an upfront $96 million payment and up to an additional $5 billion over time.

Shares of Staffing 360 Solutions Inc STAF got a boost, shooting up 40 percent to $2.70 after announcing the acquisition of Key Resources Inc. in North Carolina.

DSW Inc. DSW shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $33.94 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and raised its FY18 forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akcea Therapeutics Inc AKCA shares dropped 24 percent to $25.07 after the biopharmaceutical company that focuses on treating serious and rare diseases said the FDA rejected its New Drug Application for volanesorsen.

Shares of Mitek Systems, Inc. MITK were down 17 percent to $7.02 after the company announced management changes and reaffirmed in-line 2018 sales guidance.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. IONS was down, falling around 11 percent to $47.57 after the FDA issued a CRL on Volanesorsen.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.12 percent to $68.95 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,219.20.

Silver traded up 0.22 percent Tuesday to $15.005, while copper rose 0.57 to $2.7475.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.16 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.20 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.43 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.21 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.33 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.42 percent.

Economics

U.S. trade deficit in goods rose 6.3 percent to $72.2 billion in July, versus a revised $67.9 billion for June. Economists expected a deficit of $69.4 billion. Wholesale inventories rose 0.7 percent in July.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 6.3 percent year-over-year for June, versus a 6.5 percent rise in May.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 133.4 in August, versus prior reading of 126.5.

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

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