Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Higher; J.Jill Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 21,837.76 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.22 percent to 6,296.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.01 percent to 2,444.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.53 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 0.32 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Oak Valley Bancorp OVLY, down 7 percent, and AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY reported upbeat results for its second quarter and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter.

Best Buy posted quarterly earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $8.94 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $8.66 billion.

Best Buy expects Q3 earnings of $0.75 to $0.80 per share, on revenue of $9.3 billion to $9.4 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $0.65 per share on sales of $9.0 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Movado Group, Inc MOV shares shot up 15 percent to $27.30 after the company posted better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY 2018 forecast.

Shares of Juno Therapeutics Inc JUNO got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $43.06. Raymond James upgraded Juno Therapeutics from Market Perform to Outperform, while Wedbush upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform.

Catalent Inc CTLT shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $40.57 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Acorda Therapeutics Inc ACOR shares dropped 27 percent to $18.75 after the company reported that it has received a Refusal to File letter from the FDA for INBRIJA regarding its previously filed NDA.

Shares of Finish Line Inc FINL were down 19 percent to $8.46 after the company issued weak forecast for the second quarter and lowered its guidance for the year. The company also disclosed that its board has adopted a shareholder rights plan.

J.Jill Inc JILL was down, falling around 16 percent to $9.84. J.Jill posted in-line Q2 earnings, but issued a weak outlook.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.92 percent to $46.14 while gold traded up 0.46 percent to $1,321.30.

Silver traded up 0.26 percent Tuesday to $17.575, while copper rose 0.55 percent to $3.103.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.91 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.46 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.46 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.94 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.87 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.2 percent during the first four weeks of August versus July.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 5.7 percent year-over-year for June.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 122.90 in August, versus prior reading of 121.10. Economists were expecting a reading of 120.30.