Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Twitter Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.22 percent to 26569.30 while the NASDAQ gained 0.55 percent to 8,059.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.32 percent to 2,917.36.


Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the information technology shares rose 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Anixter International Inc. AXE up 9 percent, and Upland Software, Inc. UPLD up 7 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 0.3 percent.


Top Headline

Twitter, Inc. TWTR reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

First-quarter GAAP earnings came in at 9 cents per share while non-GAAP earnings were 37 cents per share versus the analyst estimate of 15 cents. Sales of $787 million beat the $775.23-million estimate.

The first-quarter's 330 million average monthly active users were lower than 336 million average MAUs in the first quarter of 2018. The company sees second-quarter sales of $770 million-$830 million versus a $819.3-million estimate, as well as operating income of $35 million-$70 million.

 

Equities Trading UP

Akari Therapeutics, Plc AKTX shares got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $4.47 after the company announced Phase 2 clinical data in orphan skin disease Bullous Pemphigoid showed no adverse events and rapid reduction in Disease A.

Shares of TrovaGene, Inc. TROV shot up 18 percent to $3.86 after the company announced data demonstrating 'Significant Synergy' for its ongoing onvansertib clinical development in combination with Venetoclax.

Immunic, Inc. IMUX shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $16.80 after Omega Funds reported 13.56 percent stake in the company.

 

Equities Trading DOWN


Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBRX shares dropped 49 percent to $1.5241 after the company priced 9.375 million units at $1.60 for its offering.

Shares of Regional Health Properties, Inc. RHE were down 22 percent to $1.89. Regional Health Properties disclosed that it has received notice from NYSE American related to late filing of annual report on 10-K.

Waters Corporation WAT was down, falling around 15 percent to $204.24 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2 percent to $65.71 while gold traded down 0.6 percent to $1,270.40.


Silver traded down 1.6 percent Tuesday to $14.74, while copper fell 0.5 percent to $2.887.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.3 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.1 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.2 percent during the first two weeks of April versus March.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.3 percent for February, versus a 0.6 percent rise in January.

US new home sales rose 4.5 percent at an annual rate of 692,000 for March.

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index fell to a reading of 3 for April, versus a prior reading of 10.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsBiotechnologyHealth CareMid-Morning Market Update
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