Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Cracker Barrel Beats Q4 Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.15% to 27035.62 while the NASDAQ fell 0.11% to 8144.52. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 2,998.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. FGP, up 7%, and TerraForm Power, Inc. TERP, up 3%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.6%.

Top Headline

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc CBRL reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued FY20 guidance above analyst estimates.

Cracker Barrel posted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.70 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.48. The company reported quarterly sales of $787.098 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $773.97 million.

Equities Trading UP

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. ACRS shares shot up 55% to $1.70 after the company reported its A-101 45% Topical Solution met all primary and secondary efficacy endpoints in pivotal Phase 3 trial for the treatment of common warts.

Shares of Vuzix Corporation VUZI got a boost, shooting up 15% to $2.74 after the company reported regulatory compliance approval for M400 Smart Glasses from the US, EU, Japanese and Canadian regulatory agencies.

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. APOG shares were also up, gaining 8% to $44.69 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Champions Oncology, Inc. CSBR shares tumbled 16% to $5.83 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Shares of New Concept Energy, Inc. GBR were down 25% to $1.8782.

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. BNED was down, falling 18% to $3.29. Sidoti & Co. downgraded Barnes & Noble Education from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $61.84, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,507.20.

Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $17.92, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.617.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.3% and the French CAC 40 rose 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.2%.

Economics

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

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.9% during the first two weeks of September versus August T.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase.

The NAHB housing market index rose 1 point to a reading of 68 in September.

The Treasury International Capital report for July will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.