Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up 50 Points; First Republic Bank Shares Jump On Strong Q4 Results

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.21 percent to 23,960.54 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.17 percent to 6,986.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.59 percent to 2,597.92.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the communication services shares rose 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cardlytics, Inc. CDLX up 19 percent, and LiveXLive Media, Inc. LIVX up 10 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, materials shares fell 1.1 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

JPMorgan said it earned $1.98 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $26.1 billion, which may not compare to Wall Street's estimates of $2.25 per share and $27.28 billion.

The earnings miss is mostly due to the fixed income business unit, which generated revenue of $1.86 billion versus expectations of $2.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

VirnetX Holding Corp VHC shares got a boost, shooting up 39 percent too $5.39 after a US appeals court affirmed patent infringement verdict of VirnetX against Apple.

Shares of Microbot Medical Inc MBOT shot up 76 percent to $17.25. adding to the whopping 308-percent gain shares saw in the regular session following the announcement the company received a European patent covering its ViRob technology platform. Microbot Medical reported a $3 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market.

First Republic Bank FRC shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $93.87 after the company beat Q4 sales and EPS estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

PG&E Corporation PCG shares dropped 19 percent to $6.80 amid speculation the company will file for bankruptcy.

Shares of Bio-Path Holdings Inc BPTH were down 34 percent to $0.1323. Bio-Path priced its 8.6 million share public offering of common stock at $0.13 per share.

Tilray, Inc. TLRY was down, falling around 13 percent to $87.51 after the company signed a global revenue sharing agreement to develop and market consumer cannabis brands. Tilray will pay the company $100 million and up to $250 million upon achievement of certain milestones.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.61 percent to $51.83 while gold traded down 0.27 percent to $1,287.80.

Silver traded down 0.58 percent Tuesday to $15.595, while copper fell 0.09 percent to $2.6325.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.35 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.36 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.49 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.58 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index fell 0.2 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent decline.

The NY Empire State manufacturing index dropped to3.90 for January, versus prior reading of 10.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 10.75.