Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Tiffany Posts Downbeat Q1 Sales

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.93 percent to 25051 while the NASDAQ rose 0.78 percent to 7390. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.81 percent to 2,766.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.1 percent on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Digital Turbine, Inc. APPS, up 15 percent, and Mmtec, Inc. MTC, up 11 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed estimates.

The luxury jewelry retailer reported quarterly earnings of $1.03 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.02. Tiffany’s reported quarterly sales of $1.003 billion missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.02 billion.

Tiffany reported global gross retail square footage increase of 3 percent net with eight new store openings, six closings and 15 relocations.

Equities Trading UP

Castor Maritime Inc. CTRM shares shot up 49 percent to $6.32 after the company reported year-over-year increases in sales, net income and EBITDA for the first six months of 2019.

Shares of Milestone Scientific Inc. MLSS got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $0.3984 after the company announced the conversion of convertible preferred stock at $1.17 per share.

Soliton, Inc. SOLY shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $17.77 after the company announced results of preclinical studies of its acoustic pulse technology which reveal its RAP device appears to be capable of selective disruption of the fibrotic septa which contribute to cellulite.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vislink Technologies, Inc. VISL shares tumbled 21 percent to $2.3469. Vislink Technologies shares jumped 80 percent Monday after the company received $300 thousand in airborne video downlink orders from California and Minnesota Law Enforcement agencies.

Shares of Box, Inc. BOX were down 10 percent to $16.07. Box reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, but issued weak FY20 sales guidance.

Millicom International Cellular S.A. TIGO was down, falling 9 percent to $51.30 after the company's largest shareholder, Kinnevik AB, filed to sell 11 million shares of Millicom stock and announced plans to sell its entire stake if the initial sale goes well.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8 percent to $52.83, while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,328.50.

Silver traded down 0.2 percent Tuesday to $14.715, while copper fell 0.1 percent to $2.6465.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 1.2 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.3 percent while UK shares rose 0.4 percent.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for May will be released today.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.4 percent during the first four weeks of May versus April.

U.S. factory orders fell 0.8 percent in April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.9 percent drop.

Federal Reserve Member of the Board of Governors Lael Brainard is set to speak in Chicago, IL at 3:45 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Chicago, IL at 6:45 p.m. ET.