Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Wal-Mart Reports $20B Buyback Plan

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.23 percent to 22,813.71 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.11 percent to 6,586.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.19 percent to 2,549.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares surged 1.1 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell 0.11 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Athersys, Inc. ATHX, down 8 percent, and Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated CORT down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT reported a $20 billion buyback plan and reaffirmed its FY18 adjusted earnings outlook.

Walmart expects FY19 earnings to rise 5 percent year-over-year, while overall sales are projected to rise by at least 3 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Kalvista Pharmaceuticals Inc KALV shares shot up 67 percent to $12.30 as the company reported a collaboration deal with Merck for KVD001.

Shares of AnaptysBio Inc ANAB got a boost, shooting up 67 percent to $58.61 after the company issued topline proof-of-concept data from Phase 2a trial of ANB020 In atropic dermatits.

MannKind Corporation MNKD shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $6.51. H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on MannKind with a Buy rating and a $7.00 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Izea Inc IZEA shares dropped 16 percent to $4.58. IZEA reported Q3 bookings of $7.9 million, up 2 percent year-over-year.

Shares of Cleantech Solutions International Inc CLNT were down 18 percent to $5.32. On Monday, Cleantech Solutions reported an exclusivity agreement for the potential takeover of Inspirit Studio.

Athersys, Inc. ATHX was down, falling around 9 percent to $2.21.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.07 percent to $50.11 while gold traded up 0.69 percent to $1,293.90.

Silver traded up 1.35 percent Tuesday to $17.20, while copper rose 0.33 percent to $3.041.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.56 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.08 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.30 percent.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index declined to 103 in September, versus prior reading of 105.3. However, economists were expecting a reading of 105.4.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 1.5 percent during the first week of October versus September.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 4-and 52-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Rob Kaplan will speak in Stanford at 8:00 p.m. ET.