Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Drops More Than 100 Points; Summit Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.59 percent to 18,145.57 while the NASDAQ declined 0.34 percent to 5,282.99. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.55 percent to 2,149.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, technology shares slipped by just 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Technology RENN, and Avnet, Inc. AVT.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares tumbled by 1.95 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included AES Corp AES, down 4 percent, and Southwest Gas Corporation SWX, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI reported strong earnings for the first quarter and boosted its EPS forecast for the fiscal year 2017.

The company reported net earnings of $110.2 million, or $0.87 a share, up from $86.4 million, or $0.67 a share, in the year-ago quarter. While profit represented 27.5 percent year-over-year growth, EPS grew nearly 30 percent. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.88 per share for the latest quarter.

Darden's sales advanced from $1.687 billion to $1.714 billion representing 1.6 percent increase from last year period. Its same-store sales grew 1.3 percent for the first quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $1.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Summit Therapeutics PLC (ADR) SMMT shares shot up 89 percent to $16.32. Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT and Summit Therapeutics reached an exclusive license and collaboration agreement. As a result, Sarepta has been granted rights in Europe, and Turkey apart from the Commonwealth of Independent States to Summit's utrophin modulator pipeline. This included its lead clinical candidate, ezutromid, designed for Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment.

Shares of Seadrill Ltd SDRL got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $2.70 following reports of a possible refinancing option. While Bloomberg reported that the company's biggest shareholder, John Fredriksen, is ready to infuse $1.2 billion to restructure the debt load, SeaDrill indicated there is nothing to disclose. However, the company indicated it was in discussion with stakeholders on its refinancing and recapitalization plans.

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. CLDX shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $4.36. Brean Capital assumed coverage on Celldex Therapeutics with a Buy rating and a $16.00 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) TRIB shares dropped 51 percent to $6.40 after the company disclosed that it has withdrawn its 510(k) premarket notification submission for its Meritas Troponin-I Test and Meritas Point-of-Care Analyzer.

Shares of Iradimed Corp IRMD were down 37 percent to $10.67 after the company lowered its Q3 guidance.

Costamare Inc CMRE was down, falling around 18 percent to $7.44. Costamere reported new financing arrangements and decreased its cash dividend from $0.29 per share to $0.10 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.06 percent to $48.84 while gold traded down 3.16 percent to $1,271.20.

Silver traded down 5.50 percent Tuesday to $17.83, while copper fell 1.14 percent to $2.17.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.84 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.20 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.21 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.11 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.30 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined .4 percent during the first five weeks of September versus August.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Auckland, New Zealand at 8:00 p.m. ET.