Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Ascena Retail Climbs On Upbeat Q1 Results; Destination Maternity Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.04 percent to 24,432.15 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.19 percent to 7,033.92. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16 percent to 2,641.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the consumer staples shares climbed 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV up 15 percent, and TreeHouse Foods, Inc. THS up 7 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 0.8 percent.

Top Headline

DSW Inc. DSW reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and raised its full-year outlook.

DSW reported quarterly earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $833 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.51 per share on sales of $794.36 million.

DSW now expects FY18 adjusted earnings of $1.70 to $1.85 per share on sales growth of 12 percent to 14 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Ascena Retail Group, Inc. ASNA shares got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $3.2599 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Monday.

Shares of MYOS RENS Technology Inc. MYOS shot up 62 percent to $1.73 after the company announced the launch of its 'Yolked' sports nutrition drink.

Summit Wireless Technologies, Inc. WISA shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $4.24 after reporting a global collaboration with LG Electronics.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX shares dropped 28 percent to $18.76 after reporting Q1 results.

Shares of SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC were down 25 percent to $1.34 after the company reported Q3 results and lowered its FY19 guidance.

Destination Maternity Corporation DEST was down, falling around 20 percent to $3.1993. Destination Maternity posted Q3 adjusted loss of $0.12 per share on sales of $92.84 million and lowered its FY18 sales guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.02 percent to $51.52 while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,249.60.

Silver traded up 0.38 percent Tuesday to $14.66, while copper rose 1.76 percent to $2.768.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.53 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.87 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.98 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.35 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.27 percent.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index declined 2.6 points to a reading of 104.8 in November.

The Producer Price Index rose 0.1 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent increase.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 0.5 percent during the first week of December versus November.