Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Pfizer Profit Beats Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 20,919.78 while the NASDAQ declined 0.09 percent to 6,085.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,387.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.16 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Harmonic Inc HLIT, down 11 percent, and Libbey Inc. LBY, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE posted upbeat earnings for its first quarter, but revenue missed estimates.

Pfizer said it earned $0.69 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $12.78 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.67 per share on revenue of $13.09 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Angie's List Inc ANGI shares shot up 57 percent to $9.27. IAC/InterActiveCorp IAC reported a deal to combine its HomeAdvisor unit with Angie's List.

Shares of Span-America Medical Systems, Inc. SPAN got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $28.88 after the company agreed to be acquired by Savaria Corporation for $29 per share.

Chegg Inc CHGG shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $11.40 after the company posted better-than-expected results for its first quarter. Raymond James upgraded Chegg from Market Perform to Outperform.

Equities Trading DOWN

Celadon Group, Inc. CGI shares dropped 54 percent to $1.85 as the company announced corporate updates. The company reported a new $225 million asset-based revolving credit facility and promoted Jonathan Russell to President and Chief Operating Officer.

Shares of Medpace Holdings Inc MEDP were down around 27 percent to $23.70 after the company reported downbeat quarterly earnings. Medpace also announced a $50 million share buyback plan.

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNSS was down, falling around 20 percent to $2.91 after the company reported the withdrawal of European MAA for vosaroxin as a treatment for relapsed/refractory AML.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.45 percent to $49.06 while gold traded down 0.15 percent to $1,253.60.

Silver traded up 0.20 percent Tuesday to $16.875, while copper fell 1.09 percent to $2.6315.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.49 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.73 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.53 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.45 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.66 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.3 percent during the first four weeks in April versus March.

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

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