Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Dips Over 1%; Harley-Davidson Shares Rise On Earnings Beat

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.04 percent to 17,911.47, while the NASDAQ slipped 0.23 percent to 5,206.40. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.37 percent to 2,120.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Natural Resource Partners LP NRP and Clean Energy Fuels Corp CLNE.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell by 0.93 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CytRx Corporation CYTR, down 22 percent, and Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated CORT, off 7 percent.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported better-than-expected profit for the second quarter, but the company’s revenue missed analysts’ expectations.

Verizon posted quarterly earnings of $4.23 billion, or $1.04 per share, compared to $4.21 billion, or $1.01 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its revenue rose 2.4 percent to $32.22 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $32.5 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Infosys Ltd ADR INFY shares shot up 11 percent to $17.44. Infosys reported earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $2,256 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. The company announced its plans to acquire minority stake in ANSR Consulting.

Sanmina Corp SANM shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $21.06 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Shares of Harley-Davidson Inc HOG got a boost, shooting up 4 percent to $57.11 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Lexmark International Inc LXK shares tumbled 22 percent to $37.04. Lexmark reported Q2 earnings of $0.97 per share on revenue of $891 million. The company projected Q3 earnings of $0.51 to $0.61 per share.

Shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc HLX were down 15 percent to $9.55. Helix reported Q2 GAAP loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $166.016 million.

United Natural Foods, Inc. UNFI was down, falling 14 percent to $53.68 after the company reported the termination of Albertsons Companies contract. Bank of America downgraded United Natural Foods from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the price target from $70.00 to $50.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.80 percent to $50.55, while gold traded down 0.09 percent to $1,105.80.

Silver traded up 0.32 percent Tuesday to $14.81, while copper rose 0.01 percent to $2.48.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.11 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.99 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.29 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 1.26 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.89 percent while UK shares slipped 0.43 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Tuesday, there is no important data due out.