Mid-Day Market Update: Ocean Rig Surges On Acquisition News; Seagate Shares Drop

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.21 percent to 25,911.53 while the NASDAQ declined 0.19 percent to 8,094.05. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.17 percent to 2,896.50.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the utilities shares rose 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cadiz Inc. CDZI up 20 percent, and CPFL Energia S.A. (ADR) CPL up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunication services shares fell 1.06 percent.

Top Headline

Conn's Inc CONN reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Conn's posted quarterly earnings of $0.57 per share on revenue of $384.62 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $384.09 million.

Equities Trading UP

TravelCenters of America LLC TA shares shot up 30 percent to $5.65 after the company agreed to sell Minit Mart convenience store business for approximately $330.8 million to EG Group.

Shares of MannKind Corporation MNKD got a boost, shooting up 58 percent to $1.74 after the developer of inhaled therapeutic products announced a new collaboration. As part of a new agreement with United Therapeutics Corporation UTHR, MannKind will develop initial commercial supplies of a dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and receive an upfront payment of $45 million with another $50 million in potential milestone payments. In return, United Therapeutics will handle global development, regulatory and commercial activities.

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. ORIG shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $30.25. Transocean Ltd. RIG announced plans to acquire Ocean Rig UDW for approximately $2.7 billion in cash and stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tahoe Resources Inc. TAHO shares dropped 19 percent to $2.79 after a Guatemalan Constitutional Court reversed a court decision to reinstate the company's Escobal mining license; Mining license will remain suspended.

Shares of Seagate Technology plc STX were down 9 percent to $48.62. Evercore ISI Group downgraded Seagate from In-Line to Underperform and lowered the price target from $55 to $45.

Zai Lab Limited ZLAB was down, falling around 10 percent to $20.55. Zai Lab on Sunday announced a $150 million ADS offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.30 percent to $70.01 while gold traded down 0.77 percent to $1,197.40.

Silver traded down 2.76 percent Tuesday to $14.155, while copper fell 3.03 to $2.59.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.90 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.90 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.10 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.61 percent.

Economics

The final reading of IHS Markit U.S. manufacturing PMI rose to 54.7 in August, compared to a reading of 55.3 in July.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.1 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent increase.

The ISM manufacturing index rose to 61.3 for August, versus a reading of 58.1 for July.

The Treasury will auction 4-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.