Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Avid Bioservices Jumps Following Strong Q2 Results; Conn's Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 27,926.48 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12% to 8,632.01. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 3,137.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Wrap Technologies Inc WRTC, up 8%, and GTT Communications, Inc. GTT, up 8%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

AutoZone AZO reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

AutoZone reported quarterly earnings of $14.3 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $13.77 per share. Its sales came in at $2.79 billion, versus expectations of $2.77 billion. AutoZone’s Q1 same store sales increased 3.4%.

Equities Trading UP

Equillium, Inc. EQ shares shot up 13% to $4.58 after the FDA granted fast track designation for Itolizumab for the treatment of Lupus Nephritis.

Shares of Stratus Properties Inc. STRS got a boost, shooting up 11% to $30.50. Ryman Hospitality Properties reported the purchase of Block 21 in Austin, Texas from Stratus Properties for $275 million.

Avid Bioservices, Inc. CDMO shares were also up, gaining 19% to $6.93 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. First Analyst also upgraded the stock from Outperform to Strong Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN shares tumbled 38% to $12.36 after the company reported Q3 EPS results down from last year and worse-than-expected Q3 sales results.

Shares of Conn's, Inc. CONN were down 32% to $13.99 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results. The company also issued Q4 total retail sales down 5%-9%.

Construction Partners, Inc. ROAD was down, falling 21% to $16.35 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $59.17, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,468.60.

Silver traded up 0.5% Tuesday to $16.72, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.765.

Euro zone


European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.26%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.36%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.72%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.27%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.18% while UK shares fell 0.28%.

Economics

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

The NFIB small business optimism index increased to 104.7 in November, compared to 102.4 in October.

U.S. labor productivity declined by an annualized 0.2% in the third quarter, versus a preliminary estimate of a 0.3% drop. Unit labor costs increased by an annualized 2.5% during the quarter.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 5% year-over -year during the first week of December.