Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Michaels Companies Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.5 percent to 26,031.24 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.39 percent to 7,744.21. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.38 percent to 2,843.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Michaels Companies Inc MIK up 16 percent, and Drive Shack Inc DS up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Michaels Companies Inc MIK reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Michaels reported quarterly earnings of $1.44 per share on sales of $1.789 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.42 per share on sales of $1.78 billion. Its same-store sales dropped 0.4 percent.

The Michaels Companies expects Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.28 to $0.33 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.40 per share. The company projects FY19 adjusted earnings of $2.34 to $2.46 per share on sales of $5.19 billion to $5.24 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Altimmune Inc ALT shares got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $3.52 after reporting 'positive' results from NasoVAX extension study'.

Shares of BLUCORA INC BCOR shot up 20 percent to $33.94 after the company reported a $100 million buyback, raised its FY19 EPS and sales guidance, and announced it will acquire 1st Global for $180 million.

StoneCo Ltd STNE shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $41.60 after the company reported higher-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Urovant Sciences Ltd. UROV shares dropped 19 percent to $11.23 after the company announced its Vibegron met its primary endpoints in a phase 3 trial.

Shares of Aquabounty Technologies Inc AQB were down 20 percent to $2.25. AquaBounty priced its 3.35 million share common stock offering at $2.25 per share.

resTORbio, Inc. TORC was down, falling around 15 percent to $7.67 after the company reported Q4 results and announced a $50 million common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4 percent to $59.35 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,308.20.

Silver traded up 0.5 percent Tuesday to $15.395, while copper rose 1 percent to $2.9365.

 

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.8 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.5 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.1 percent during the first two weeks of March versus February.

U.S. factory orders rose 0.1 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.