Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2%; American Science & Engineering Shares Surge On Acquisition News

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.25 percent to 17,850.14 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.09 percent to 4,841.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.24 percent to 2,088.34.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 1.03 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell by 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. SCHN, down 6 percent, and DRDGOLD Ltd. (ADR) DRD, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday.

The company posted quarterly net income of $175.4 million, or $0.90 per share, versus $182.0 million, or $0.86 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its sales rose to $4.13 billion from $4.01 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.92 per share on sales of $4.21 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (USA) ROSG shares shot up 20 percent to $1.37 as the company reported that it has received an approval from the New York State for HEME FISH-based assays.

Shares of American Science & Engineering, Inc. ASEI got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $36.75 as the company agreed to be acquired by OSI Systems, Inc. OSIS for $37 per share in cash.

Imperva Inc IMPV shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $44.81. Elliott Associates reported a 9.8 percent stake in Imperva, according to 13D filing.

Equities Trading DOWN

Medgenics Inc MDGN shares dropped 13 percent to $5.45. Medgenics priced public offering of 3.64 million shares at $5.50 per share.

Shares of SCYNEXIS Inc SCYX were down 14 percent to $2.28. SCYNEXIS priced public offering of 9.375 million shares of its common stock and warrants at $2.40 per share.

Werner Enterprises, Inc. WERN was down, falling around 8 percent to $22.61 as the company issued a weak earnings forecast for the second quarter. The company projects a profit of $0.21 to $0.25 per share for the quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.03 percent to $48.37 while gold traded down 1.61 percent to $1,271.30.

Silver traded down 1.42 percent Tuesday to $17.27, while copper rose 0.10 percent to $2.10.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.64 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.60 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.71 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.27 percent.

Economics

The Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak in New York at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The API's crude oil inventory report for the recent week will be released at 4:35 p.m. ET.