Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises Over 150 Points; Digital Ally Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.75 percent to 20,705.51 while the NASDAQ rose 0.65 percent to 5,878.59. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.77 percent to 2,359.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Broadwind Energy Inc. BWEN and Scorpio Tankers Inc. STNG.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.07 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Partner Communications Company Ltd (ADR) PTNR, down 4 percent, and Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo Inc HCOM, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Carnival Corp CCL reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Carnival reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $3.79 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.35 per share on revenue of $3.78 billion.

Carnival raised its FY17 earnings outlook to $3.50 to $3.70 per share, versus earlier forecast of $3.30 to $3.60 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Catalyst Biosciences Inc CBIO shares shot up 196 percent to $15.89 after the company reported IND approval in South Korea for next-gen subcutaneous Factor IX program.

Shares of Exeter Resource Corp XRA got a boost, shooting up 53 percent to $1.77 after the company agreed to be acquired by Goldcorp Inc. (USA) GG.

Akers Biosciences Inc AKER shares were also up, gaining 74 percent to $2.43 after the company disclosed that it has received an initial order for its rapid cholesterol self-test from First Check Diagnostics, LLC.

Equities Trading DOWN

CryoPort Inc CYRX shares dropped 43 percent to $2.02. Cryoport reported a proposed public offering of common stock.

Shares of Digital Ally, Inc. DGLY were down around 10 percent to $4.16 after reporting downbeat quarterly results.

Versar Inc. VSR was down, falling around 15 percent to $1.61. Versar posted FY16 operating loss (before taxes) of $36.6 million and gross revenue of $167.9 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.26 percent to $48.33 while gold traded down 0.49 percent to $1,252.60.

Silver traded up 0.18 percent Tuesday to $18.14, while copper rose 1.27 percent to $2.67.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.61 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.84 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.02 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.57 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.68 percent.

Economics

The trade gap in goods declined to $64.8 billion in February, compared to $68.8 billion in January. Wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in February.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.7 percent during the first four weeks of March versus February.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index gained 5.7 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 5.6 percent growth.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index gained to 125.60 in March, versus 116.1 in February. Economists projected a reading of 114.00.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index came in flat at 17.00 for March, versus a prior reading of 17.00.