Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Goldman Sachs Posts Mixed Q1 Results

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.18 percent to 26364.77 while the NASDAQ declined 0.26 percent to 7,963.80. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,903.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the health care shares rose 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Catalent, Inc. CTLT up 5 percent, and Mesoblast Limited MESO up 4 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 0.7 percent.

Top Headline

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS reported mixed results for its first quarter on Monday.

Goldman Sachs said it earned $5.71 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $8.807 billion versus expectations of $4.89 per share and $9.04 billion. Net earnings for the quarter fell from $2.832 billion in the same quarter last year to $2.251 billion as total revenue fell 13 percent.

By segment, Investment Banking revenue was unchanged year-over-year at $1.81 billion, Institutional Client Services revenue fell 18 percent to $3.61 billion, Investing & Lending revenue fell 14 percent to $1.84 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Vectrus, Inc. VEC shares got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $39.76 after the company won a military contract and reaffirmed its 2019 guidance.

Shares of Fibrocell Science, Inc. FCSC shot up 55 percent to $2.75 after the company disclosed an agreement with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize FCX-007. Fibrocell will receive a $30M upfront payment.

Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. BPTH shares were also up, gaining 50 percent to $23.54 after the company withdrew its S-1 registration form, indicating it will not dilute shares.

Equities Trading DOWN

Reebonz Holding Limited RBZ shares dropped 61 percent to $4.50 after the company reported pricing of $10.8 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Achaogen, Inc. AKAO were down 51 percent to $0.2450 after the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

China Recycling Energy Corporation CREG was down, falling around 26 percent to $0.6950 after the company reported 2018 sales fell 25% year-over-year and announced a 2.36 million share offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7 percent to $63.47 while gold traded down 0.7 percent to $1,286.50.

Silver traded down 0.9 percent Monday to $14.835, while copper fell 0.6 percent to $2.9285.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.2 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.2 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.1 percent.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index increased to 10.1 in April, compared to 3.7 in the previous month.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in New York at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for February will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.