Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 3.5%; Thor Industries Shares Surge On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.21 percent to 19,137.87 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.59 percent to 5,400.69. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,209.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, healthcare shares gained by 0.61 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kindred Healthcare, Inc. KND, and QLT Inc. (USA) QLTI.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell by 0.83 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Newpark Resources Inc NR, down 12 percent, and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc DO, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Tiffany posted quarterly earnings of $95.1 million, or $0.76 per share, versus earnings of $91 million, or $0.70 per share.

Its total sales increased 1.2 percent to 949.3 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.67 per share on revenue of $923.7 million.

Equities Trading UP

Genetic Technologies Limited (ADR) GENE shares shot up 62 percent to $2.11 following announcement of a license agreement with The University of Melbourne.

Shares of Thor Industries, Inc. THO got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $102.70 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Monday.

Dataram Corp DRAM shares were also up, gaining 34 percent to $1.42 as the company disclosed that it has finalized an agreement to acquire U.S. Gold Corp.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nivalis Therapeutics Inc NVLS shares dropped 59 percent to $2.58 after the company reported it failed to demonstrate benefit in absolute change in predicted FEV1 or in Sweat Chloride Reduction at 12 weeks. The failed trial has prompted four Wall Street firms to downgrade the issue including Raymond James, Cowen, Baird and Stifel.

Shares of Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. FOLD were down 22 percent to $6.50 after the company announced the path forward for U.S. regulatory approval for migalastat, including an additional trial in Fabry disease, focused on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Although the company did receive FDA approval for Migalastat, Adam Feuerstein tweeted that the FDA wants more data and could cause a delay for the rollout of the drug until 2019.

Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL was down, falling around 13 percent to $26.45 after the company reported weak earnings for its third quarter and lowered its annual outlook.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.53 percent to $45.42 while gold traded down 0.31 percent to $1,190.10.

Silver traded up 0.33 percent Tuesday to $16.73, while copper fell 2.28 percent to $2.61.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.55 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 2.13 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.91 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.40 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter. However, economists were expecting a 3.1 percent growth rate.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.4 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index surged to 107.10 in November, versus a prior reading of 98.60. Economists were expecting a reading of 101.20.