Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Walmart Profit Misses Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.55 percent to 25,081.36 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.30 percent to 7,261.39. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.35 percent to 2,722.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the technology shares climbed 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI, up 6 percent, and Overstock.com Inc OSTK, up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell 1.07 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK, down 12 percent, and Walmart Inc WMT down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

The company said it earned $1.33 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $136.3 billion versus expectations of $1.37 per share on revenue of $134.9 billion.

Walmart's online sales climbed 23 percent during the holiday quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Dropcar Inc DCAR shares shot up 35 percent to $3.82 after the company disclosed a new agreement with Jaguar Land Rover Manhattan.

Shares of Voyager Therapeutics Inc VYGR got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $22.70 as the company announced plans to collaborate with Abbvie on treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

DineEquity Inc DIN shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $62.85 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results and issued a strong FY 2018 earnings forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

MiMedx Group Inc MDXG shares dropped 33 percent to $9.63. MiMedx postponed release of its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 financial results. The company’s board has engaged independent legal and accounting advisors to conduct an internal investigation into current and prior -period matters relating to allegations and certain sales and distribution practices at the company.

Shares of Ubiquiti Networks Inc UBNT were down 28 percent to $53.51 following earlier 8-K highlighting SEC subpoenas to the company requesting documents related to 'range of topics' including accounting practices, financial info, auditors and international trade practices.
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Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK was down, falling around 12 percent to $10.44 after the company reported Q4 sales and issued a weak FY17 sales forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.54 percent to $62.01 while gold traded down 1.09 percent to $1,341.40.

Silver traded down 1.38 percent Tuesday to $16.565, while copper fell 1.68 percent to $3.2135.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.68 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.12 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.26 percent.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 4-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.