Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.75%; Arsanis Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.27 percent to 24,572.49 while the NASDAQ declined 0.32 percent to 7,058.94. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.20 percent to 2,668.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the utilities shares climbed 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia ADR ELP up 9 percent, and Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobras EBR up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, materials shares fell 1.7 percent.

Top Headline

Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter and lowered its FY19 EPS guidance.

Hibbett Sports posted quarterly earnings of $0.14 per share on time charter revenues of $216.9 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.16 per share on revenue of $217.28 million.

Hibbett now expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $1.55 to $1.65 per share, versus previous forecast of $1.57 to $1.75 per share.

Equities Trading UP

BSB Bancorp, Inc. BLMT shares got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $31.09 after People's United Financial, Inc. PBCT announced plans to acquire BSB Bancorp in a 100 percent stock deal valued at around $327 million.

Shares of Aethlon Medical, Inc. AEMD shot up 25 percent to $1.4601 after the company's cancer therapy received Breakthrough Device designation from the FDA.

Arsanis, Inc. ASNS shares were also up, gaining 102 percent to $2.34 after the company announced a merger agreement with X4 Pharma.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ferroglobe PLC GSM shares dropped 60 percent to $1.92 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Shares of G1 Therapeutics, Inc. GTHX were down 18 percent to $32.71 following Phase 2 data for trilaciclib in combo with chemo/Tecentriq which showed statistically significant improvements in primary endpoints but no statistical difference in candidate vs placebo groups.

Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN was down, falling around 15 percent to $1.96 after the company issued a weak forecast for the third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.75 percent to $50.72 while gold traded down 0.77 percent to $1,219.30.

Silver traded down 1 percent Tuesday to $14.20, while copper fell 1.5 percent to $2.7315.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.26 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.06 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.43 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.40 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.24 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.27 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.8 percent during the first three weeks of November versus October.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 5.1 percent for September, versus a 5.5 percent increase in August.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 135.70 for November, versus prior reading of 137.90.