Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Wal-Mart Lowers Full-Year Forecast

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.14 percent to 17,520.43 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.29 percent to 5,076.72. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.13 percent to 2,099.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares gained by 0.08 percent in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Omeros Corporation OMER, Patterson Companies, Inc. PDCO, and Codexis, Inc. CDXS.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares dipped by 1.27 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Century Aluminum Co CENX, down 11 percent, and Coeur Mining Inc CDE, off 9 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the second quarter and lowered its full-year forecast.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company posted a quarterly profit of $3.48 billion, or $1.08 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $4.09 billion, or $1.26 per share.

Its revenue rose slightly to $120.2 billion from $120.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.12 per share on revenue of $119.7 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Omeros Corporation OMER shares shot up 65 percent to $23.95 as the company reported additional positive data in its Phase 2 clinical trial of OMS721.

National Penn Bancshares NPBC shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $12.74 after the company agreed to be acquired by BB&T Corporation BBT for $13.00 per share.

Shares of NN, Inc. NNBR got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $27.19 after the company announced its plans to acquire Precision Engineered Products Holdings for $615 million in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW shares tumbled 18 percent to $9.21 after the company reported downbeat Q2 earnings.

Shares of Vera Bradley, Inc. VRA were down 10 percent to $9.86. Jefferies downgraded Vera Bradley from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $18.00 to $11.00.

SanDisk Corporation SNDK was down, falling 3 percent to $56.32. Bank of America downgraded SanDisk from Buy to Underperform and lowered the price target from $75.00 to $40.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.21 percent to $41.96, while gold traded down 0.70 percent to $1,110.60.

Silver traded down 3.84 percent Tuesday to $14.71, while copper fell 2.05 percent to $2.27.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.18 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.13 percent while UK shares fell 0.37 percent.

Economics

Housing starts rose 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.21 million in July.