Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.5%; RetailMeNot Shares Gain On Strong Results

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.61 percent to 18,291.34 while the NASDAQ declined 1.02 percent to 5,131.06. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.73 percent to 2,155.10.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Sodastream International Ltd SODA and Avon Products, Inc. AVP.

In trading on Tuesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Texas Roadhouse Inc TXRH, down 12 percent, and U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc. PRTS, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Tuesday.

Pfizer reported EPS of $0.64 and revenues of $13.1 billion. Analyst consensus had an EPS estimate of $0.62 and revenues of $13.0 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Advaxis, Inc. ADXS shares shot up 30 percent to $11.00. Advaxis and Amgen Inc. AMGN struck a collaboration deal for the development, as well as, commercialization of ADXS-NEO meant for the treatment of cancer immunotherapy.

Shares of RetailMeNot Inc SALE got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $9.77 after the company reported upbeat results for second quarter.

Avon Products, Inc. AVP shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $4.77 as the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cobalt International Energy, Inc. CIE shares dropped 27 percent to $0.999. Cobalt International Energy reported a wider loss for the second quarter.

Shares of Endurance International Group Hldgs Inc EIGI were down 23 percent to $6.96 after the company posted weak results for the second quarter.

Medallion Financial Corp MFIN was down, falling around 26 percent to $6.04. Medallion Financial reported Q2 earnings of $0.19 on revenue of $2.5 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.50 percent to $39.46 while gold traded up 0.90 percent to $1,371.80.

Silver traded up 0.88 percent Tuesday to $20.68, while copper rose 0.45 percent to $2.21.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.77 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.76 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 1.80 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.84 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.73 percent.

Economics

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.4 percent in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent gain. Incomes increased 0.2 percent in the month, versus economists’ estimates of a 0.3 percent growth.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.6 percent during the first four weeks of July versus June.