Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; McDonald's Tops Q1 Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.12 percent to 26523.16 while the NASDAQ declined 0.63 percent to 8,110.35. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.26 percent to 2,935.50.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the utilities shares rose 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP up 1 percent, and Central Puerto S.A. CEPU up 1 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell 2.3 percent.

Top Headline

McDonald's Corp MCD reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

McDonald's said it earned $1.78 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $4.956 billion versus expectations of $1.77 per share and $4.93 billion. Net income fell 3 percent from the same quarter last year to $1.3284 billion, but would have been higher by 2 percent on a currency neutral basis.
During the quarter, McDonald's paid $1.9 billion to investors in the form of dividends and share buybacks.

 

Equities Trading UP

Impinj, Inc. PI shares got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $27.71 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales estimates. The company also issued Q2 guidance above analyst estimates.

Shares of G1 Therapeutics, Inc. GTHX shot up 17 percent to $21.70 after the company reported positive feedback from the end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA for its Trilaciclib drug.

WageWorks, Inc. WAGE shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $48.73 after HealthEquity reported confirmation of proposal to buy WageWorks at $50.50 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Netshoes (Cayman) Limited NETS shares dropped 28 percent to $1.90. Brazilian company Magazine Luiza SA agreed to buy Netshoes for around $62 million.

Shares of Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated DBD were down 15 percent to $10.56 after reporting downbeat Q1 results.

Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. TTS was down, falling around 18 percent to $4.66 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9 percent to $64.06 while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,284.70.

Silver traded up 0.1 percent Tuesday to $14.945, while copper rose 0.5 percent to $2.9115.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.3 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.4 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.6 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The employment cost index rose 0.7 percent for the first quarter.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.2 percent during the first three weeks of April versus March.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 3 percent year-over-year in February, versus a revised 3.5 percent rise in the prior month.

The Chicago PMI declined to 52.6 in April, versus a reading of 58.7 in March.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 129.2 in April, versus a reading of 124.2 in March.

The pending home sales index rose 3.8 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent increase.

Data on farm prices for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.