Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Pfizer Posts Mixed Q1 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.83 percent to 23,963.01 while the NASDAQ declined 0.01 percent to 7,065.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.28 percent to 2,640.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the real estate shares gained 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Colliers International Group Inc. CIGI, up 6 percent, and Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. CTO up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares tumbled 1.21 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views.

Pfizer reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.77 per share on revenue of $12.91 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.75 per share on sales of $13.15 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Heat Biologics, Inc. HTBX shares shot up 83 percent to $3.9201. The nano-cap biotechnology saw its stock soar 87 percent throughout Monday's session and was higher by more than 120 percent at one point. There was no company specific news to support the volatility, but the movement could be attributed to recent trader interest in "low float stocks." In Heat Biologics case, there are approximately 5.6 million shares outstanding.

Shares of Inogen, Inc. INGN got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $167.355 following its first-quarter earnings report that saw FY18 sales guidance raised. Earnings came in at 48 cents per share, up from 27 cents per share last year. Sales came in at $79.1 million, beating estimates by $15 million.

Nutrisystem, Inc. NTRI shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $35.10 after reporting better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. COMM shares dropped 29 percent to $26.96 after the company reported Q1 results and lowered its FY18 earnings guidance.

Shares of Intevac, Inc. IVAC were down 27 percent to $4.75 after reporting a first-quarter sales miss.

TDH Holdings, Inc. PETZ was down, falling around 26 percent to $3.40 following fiscal year 2017 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.25 percent to $67.71 while gold traded down 0.86 percent to $1,307.90.

Silver traded down 0.95 percent Tuesday to $16.245, while copper fell 1.17 percent to $3.038.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for April will be released today.

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

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 56.5 in April, from 55.6 in March.

The ISM manufacturing index declined to 57.3 in April, compared to 59.3.

U.S. construction spending dropped 1.7 percent for March.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.