Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Pfizer Earnings Miss Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.5% to 28677.15 while the NASDAQ rose 0.86% to 9217.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.77% to 3,268.55.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Servicesource International Inc SREV, up 8%, and Sprout Social Inc SPT, up 5%.

In trading on Tuesday, industrial shares rose by just 0.2%.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Pfizer reported quarterly earnings of $0.55 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of 57 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $12.7 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $12.61 billion.

Pfizer sees fiscal year 2020 adjusted EPS $2.82-$2.92 versus the $2.90 estimate and sales $48.5 billion-$50.5 billion versus the $49.52 billion estimate.


Equities Trading UP

Armata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARMP shares shot up 109% to $5.83. Armata Pharmaceuticals and Innoviva reported a $25 million strategic investment to support advancement of Armata's bacteriophage development programs.


Shares of Delphi Technologies PLC DLPH got a boost, shooting up 63% to $15.92 after the company announced it will be acquired by BorgWarner for $3.3 billion in an all-stock transaction.

Acceleron Pharma Inc. XLRN shares were also up, gaining 52% to $80.20 following a data readout. Acceleron said a Phase 2 study dubbed PULSAR that evaluated its sotatercept in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, met its primary and key secondary endpoints. The experimental drug showed a statistically significant reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance – the primary endpoint - at week 24 versus placebo. The study also achieved the key secondary endpoint of significant improvements in six-minute walk distance, and other secondary endpoints, including amino-terminal brain natriuretic propeptide, and WHO functional class. It was also found to be generally well tolerated.


Equities Trading DOWN

NanoViricides, Inc. NNVC shares tumbled 31% to $10.87 after surging 86.98% on Monday.

Shares of TESSCO Technologies Incorporated TESS were down 25% to $9.07 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results.

Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI was down, falling 23% to $3.3547 after surging 50% on Monday.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $53.07, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,577.20.

Silver traded down 0.4% Tuesday to $17.985, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.5885.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.1% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.2% while UK shares rose 0.3%.

Economics

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

U.S. durable goods orders rose 2.4% in December, versus a revised 3.1% decline in the previous month.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.1% during the first three weeks of January versus December.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index climbed 2.6% year-over-year in November, compared to a 2.2% rise in the previous month.

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

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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