Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Target Posts Mixed Q4 results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.27% to 26,774.19 while the NASDAQ rose 0.48% to 8,996.28. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.44% to 3,103.90. Coronavirus cases continued to rise outside China. South Korea confirmed 374 new coronavirus cases today, taking total number to 5,186. In Iran, total number of infections surged by 835 to 2,336. Mainland China reported just 125 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on March 2.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 1.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust PEI, up 9%, and Uniti Group Inc. UNIT, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.

Target reported quarterly earnings of $1.69 per share on Tuesday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.66. The company reported quarterly sales of $23.398 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $23.49 billion

Target sees first-quarter adjusted EPS $1.55-$1.75 versus the $1.66 estimate. The company sees fiscal year 2020 adjusted EPS $6.70-$7.

Equities Trading UP

Omeros Corporation OMER shares shot up 38% to $17.38 after the company reported Narsoplimab HSCT-TMA results surpassed the FDA-agreed efficacy threshold. The company also reported upbeat quarterly sales.

Shares of GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK got a boost, shooting 27% to $4.47 after the company reported Q4 earnings results.

NuCana plc NCNA shares were also up, gaining 21% to $7.25.

Equities Trading DOWN

iBio, Inc. IBIO shares tumbled 25% to $1.665. iBio highlighted withdrawal of proxy statement proposal related to amend its certificate of incorporation to authorize possible reverse stock split.

Shares of Daxor Corporation DXR were down 24% to $10.89. Daxor shares rose 65.7% on Monday after the company said hospitals are using its blood volume analyzer to prevent coronavirus deaths.

Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI was down, falling 21% to $12.37.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 3.2% to $48.24, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,603.10.

Silver traded up 0.4% Tuesday to $16.80, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.5875.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.3% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.4% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2.1%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.5% while UK shares rose 2.2%.

Economics

Chicago Federal Reserve chief Charles Evans is set to speak at 6:30 p.m. ET.