Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Falls Over 100 Points; DryShips Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.69 percent to 19,834.29 while the NASDAQ declined 0.42 percent to 5,590.07. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.43 percent to 2,271.10.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.90 percent in trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, and Empresa Distribuidora y Cmrz Nrt SA(ADR) EDN.

In trading on Tuesday, technology shares slipped by 0.67 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Rambus Inc. RMBS, down 7 percent, and Integrated Device Technology Inc IDTI, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Mastercard Inc MA reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while revenue missed estimates.

Mastercard reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $2.76 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.85 per share on revenue of $2.79 billion.

Equities Trading UP

DryShips Inc. DRYS shares shot up 91 percent to $4.71. DryShips announced ahead of Tuesday's market open that it has successfully completed a $200 million common stock offering at a price of $3.08 per share and the net proceeds to the company will be $198.0 million.

Shares of AEterna Zentaris Inc. (USA) AEZS got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $3.22 as the company reported the completion of Zoptrex™ pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in advanced endometrial cancer.

Jaguar Animal Health Inc JAGX shares were also up, gaining 55 percent to $0.850 after announcement of deal with Lilly subsidiary.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dimension Therapeutics Inc DMTX shares dropped 49 percent to $2.17 after the company reported interim topline results from ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical program for DTX101.

Shares of Tenax Therapeutics Inc TENX were down around 75 percent to $0.483 after the company reported top-line results from its Phase 3 LEVO-CTS trial in cardiac surgery. The company disclosed that the trial did not achieve primary endpoints. However, the study met two secondary endpoints.

Under Armour Inc UAA was down, falling around 24 percent to $22.05 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued a weak revenue forecast for 2017.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.54 percent to $53.44 while gold traded up 1.58 percent to $1,214.90.

Silver traded up 1.85 percent Tuesday to $17.47, while copper rose 1.85 percent to $2.70.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.45 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.01 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.88 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.23 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.12 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day policy meeting today.

The employment cost index increased 0.5 percent for the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.6 percent growth.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index gained 5.3 percent year-over-year for November.

The Chicago PMI declined to 50.3 for January, versus a previous reading of 53.9.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped to a reading of 111.8 in January, rom 113.3 in December. Economists projected a reading of 112.9.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for January will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.