Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Domino's Pizza Earnings Miss Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.15% to 26173.94 while the NASDAQ fell 1.45% to 7841.12. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.34% to 2,900.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares slipped by just 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RGC Resources, Inc. RGCO, up 0.2%, and Vistra Energy Corp. VST, up 0.3%.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 1.6%.

Top Headline

Domino's Pizza, Inc. DPZ reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Domino's Pizza reported third-quarter earnings of $2.05 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.07. The company reported quarterly sales of $820.81 million, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $824.62 million.


Equities Trading UP

Asure Software, Inc. ASUR shares shot up 22% to $8.27 after the company announced it will sell its Workspace Management business to FM:Systems in an asset and equity transaction valued at $120 million.

Shares of Neurotrope, Inc. NTRP surged 24% to $0.89 after the company announced it would review a strategic alternatives to maximize shareholders value.

NIO Inc. NIO was up, rising 9% to $1.6850 after the company reported Q3 vehicle sales up 35% from Q2.

Equities Trading DOWN

QIAGEN N.V. QGEN shares tumbled 20% to $25.59. Qiagen announced preliminary third-quarter sales, expecting sales growth of about 3% at constant exchange rates, lower than its earlier expectations for 4-5% growth, citing significantly weaker-than-expected developments in China. The company expects adjusted EPS within its outlook of 35-36 cents in constant exchange rate. Separately, the company announced a 15-year partnership with Illumina to broaden the availability and use of NGS-based in-vitro diagnostic kits, including companion diagnostics, for patient management. The company also said its Chairman and CEO Peer Schatz has decided to resign from the positions, although he will serve as Special Advisor to the Supervisory Board.

Shares of Puma Biotechnology, Inc. PBYI were down 20% to $8.09 after Goldman Sachs downgraded the company's stock from Neutral to Sell and lowered the price target from $24 to $8.

DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc. DZSI was down, falling 16% to $8.05 after the company reported weak preliminary sales results for its third quarter.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4% to $52.01, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,509.30.

Silver traded up 0.4% Tuesday to $17.605, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.572.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.9%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1% while UK shares fell 0.4%.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index fell to 101.8 in September, versus prior reading of 103.1.

The Producer Price Index fell 0.3% for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% rise.

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

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago, Illinois at 1:35 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Denver, Colorado at 1:50 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in St. Cloud, Minnesota at 5:00 p.m. ET.