Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains 80 Points; Fulgent Genetics Shares Jump Following Strong Q3 Results

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.29% to 27,542.58 while the NASDAQ rose 0.17% to 8,447.85. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03% to 3,079.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. VCTR, up 10%, and X Financial XYF, up 10%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 1.9%.

Top Headline

Emerson Electric Co EMR reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Emerson Electric reported first-quarter earnings of $1.16 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.08 per share. The company posted quarterly sales of $4.97 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.04 billion.

Emerson Electric said it expects FY19 adjusted EPS of $3.69 per shares, versus analysts’ estimates of $3.63. The company projects FY20 adjusted EPS of $3.48-$3.72, versus analysts’ views of $3.74. The company also announced plans to raise dividend by 4% in 2020.

Equities Trading UP

Fulgent Genetics, Inc. FLGT shares shot up 40% to $13.18 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results.

Shares of EverQuote, Inc. EVER got a boost, shooting up 30% to $28.26 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results. The company also issued Q4 sales guidance above estimates and raised FY19 sales guidance above estimates.

NextCure, Inc. NXTC shares were also up, gaining 190% to $76.52.

Equities Trading DOWN

Myriad Genetics, Inc. MYGN shares tumbled 41% to $20.77 after the company reported Q1 EPS of $0.08 compared to the $0.32 estimate and worse-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also issued Q2 and FY20 EPS and sales results below analyst estimates.

Shares of Armstrong Flooring, Inc. AFI were down 40% to $3.9501 after the company reported weak Q3 results.

Neuronetics, Inc. . STIM was down, falling 38% to $5.61 after the company reported downbeat Q3 sales and issued weak sales forecast.
 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $57.20, while gold traded down 1.8% to $1,483.80.

Silver traded down 2.6% Tuesday to $17.605, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.70.

Euro zone


European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.23%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.09%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.39% while UK shares rose 0.25%.

Economics

U.S. trade deficit declined around 5% to $52.5 billion in September, versus a revised $55 billion in August. Imports of goods declined around 1% to $206 billion, while exports fell 1.7% to $258.4 billion.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.3% during the first four weeks of October versus September.

The IHS Markit services PMI slipped to 50.6 in October, compared to a preliminary estimate of 51 and versus a reading of 50.9 in September.

The ISM non-manufacturing index climbed to 54.7 in October, versus 52.6 in the prior month.

The number of job openings dropped to 7.024 million in September, versus a revised 7.3 million in the prior month.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, Minnesota at 6:00 p.m. ET.