Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; HD Supply Posts Mixed Q2 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.33% to 26747.25 while the NASDAQ fell 0.76% to 8,025.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.60% to 2,960.66.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Seadrill Limited SDRL, up 13%, and Mammoth Energy Services, Inc. TUSK, up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

HD Supply Holdings Inc HDS reported in-line earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company issued weak forecast for the third quarter.

HD Supply Holdings reported second-quarter earnings of $1.08 per share, which met the analyst consensus estimate. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.624 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.63 billion

HD Supply Holdings said it expects Q3 adjusted EP of $0.96-$1.05, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.05. It projects sales of $1.62 billion-$1.67 billion, versus expectations of $1.69 billion. The company sees FY19 adjusted EPS of $3.45-$3.60 on sales of $6.1 billion-$6.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN shares shot up 82% to $9.40 after the company reported Q2 EPS results up from last year.

Shares of Mallinckrodt plc MNK got a boost, shooting up 35% to $2.84 after the company agreed to sell its wholly owned subsidiary BioVectra Inc. to H.I.G. Capital, for $250 million.

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. CANF shares were also up, gaining 20% to $2.865 after the company entered into an agreement with Univo Pharmaceuticals to develop cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals and assays.

Equities Trading DOWN

Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. EMMA shares tumbled 35% to $2.8998 after the company announced it will be delisted from the Nasdaq stock market following the hearing.

Shares of Sonim Technologies, Inc. SONM were down 37% to $4.47. Sonim Technologies’ management has lowered its financial guidance for this fiscal year ending Dec. 31. The company says net revenues are expected to be flat or slightly below 2018 net revenues of $135.7 million reported in fiscal 2018.

Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. ITCI was down, falling 17% to $8.60 after the company announced that the FDA has informed the company it does not plan on scheduling an advisory committee meeting in connection with its review of the company's NDA for Lumateperone.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $58.43, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,499.50.

Silver traded down 1% Tuesday to $17.99, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.6075.

Euro zone

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

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index declined 1.6 points to a reading of 103.1 in August.

The number of job openings declined to 7.217 million in July, versus a revised 7.248 million in the prior month, according to the Labor Department.

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

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.