Mid-Day Market Update: Mattress Firm Drops Following Weak Results; NQ Mobile Shares Surge

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.18 percent to 17,591.44 while the NASDAQ gained 0.04 percent to 4,810.66. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.16 percent to 2,048.42. Leading and Lagging Sectors Tuesday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Akorn, Inc. AKRX and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX. In trading on Tuesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares dipped by 0.49 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII, down 19 percent, and Mattress Firm Holding Corp MFRM, down 13 percent. Top Headline G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII reported downbeat Q4 results and issued a weak forecast. G-III Apparel posted quarterly earnings of $0.17 per share, on revenue of $527.4 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $568.6 million. G-III Apparel expects FY 2017 earnings of $2.55 to $2.65 per share, on revenue of $2.56 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $3.14 per share on revenue of $2.60 billion. Equities Trading UP Akorn, Inc. AKRX shares shot up 32 percent to $24.80. Akorn reported preliminary FY15 earnings of $1.93 per share on revenue of $985 million. The company projects FY16 earnings of $2.10 to $2.20 per share, on revenue of $1.06 billion to $1.08 billion. Shares of Centrus Energy Corp LEU got a boost, shooting up 30 percent to $3.09. Centrus Energy reported a Q4 loss of $(11.19) per share on revenue of $157.9 million. NQ Mobile Inc (ADR) NQ shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $4.46. NQ Mobile reported Q4 earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $127.47 million. Equities Trading DOWN G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII shares dropped 19 percent to $44.62 as the company reported downbeat Q4 results and issued a weak forecast. Shares of Mattress Firm Holding Corp MFRM were down 13 percent to $37.26 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and issued a downbeat earnings forecast. The company appointed Ken Murphy as the new president and chief executive office, while Steve Stagner was selected to perform as the executive chairman of the company and chairman of the board of directors. Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI was down, falling around 15 percent to $5.55. Wedbush downgraded Infinity Pharmaceuticals from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the price target from $8.00 to $3.00. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 1.19 percent to $39.91, while gold traded up 0.86 percent to $1,254.90. Silver traded up 0.78 percent Tuesday to $15.97, while copper fell 0.28 percent to $2.29. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.73 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.91 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.07 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.25 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.10 percent. Economics The FHFA house price index rose 0.50 percent for January, versus economists' expectations for a 0.50 percent growth. The Markit manufacturing PMI gained to 51.40 in March, versus a prior reading of 51.30. However, economists were expecting a reading of 51.80.