Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Home Depot Reports Downbeat Sales

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.21% to 27976.62 while the NASDAQ rose 0.03% to 8,552.80. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08% to 3,119.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.3% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Myovant Sciences Ltd. MYOV, up 150%, and Athenex, Inc. ATNX, up 31%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Home Depot Inc HD reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company also cut its FY19 sales growth forecast.

Home Depot posted quarterly earnings of $2.53 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.52 ;per share. Its sales came in at $27.2 billion, missing expectation of $27.53 billion. Same-store sales increased 3.6% during the quarter.

Home Depot said it expects FY19 sales to rise about 1.8%, versus previous outlook of a 2.3% rise. The company projects same-store sales growth of 3.5%.

Equities Trading UP

Myovant Sciences Ltd. MYOV shares shot up 139% to $14.50 after the company announced that its Phase 3 HERO study of once-daily, oral relugolix met its primary endpoint and all six key secondary endpoints in men with advanced prostate cancer.

Shares of SAExploration Holdings, Inc. SAEX got a boost, shooting up 102% to $3.07 after the company late Monday reported a combined $130 million of new projects om Alaska, Canada and the Middle East.

The Medicines Company MDCO shares were also up, gaining 22% to $71.50 following reports Novartis is considering making an offer to acquire the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Intelsat S.A. I shares tumbled 29% to $5.66 after Evercore ISI Group downgraded the stock from Outperform to In-Line and lowered the price target from $38 to $11 per share.

Shares of KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. KLXE were down 23% to $5.66 after the company announced Q3 cost reduction program. The company sees Q3 charge of $13 million.

Kohl's Corporation KSS was down, falling 18% to $47.62 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 EPS results. The company also cut FY19 EPS guidance.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1% to $56.50, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,467.70.

Silver traded up 0.5% Tuesday to $17.08, while copper rose 0.5% to $2.6335.

Euro zone


European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 1%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4% while UK shares rose 1.2%.

Economics

U.S. housing starts rose 3.8% to an annual rate of 1.314 million for October. Building permits increased 5% to an annual rate of 1.461 million.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.3% during the first two weeks of November versus October.