Mid-Morning Market Update: Healthcare Shares Trend Higher, Biogen Shares Spike

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 16848.48 while the NASDAQ rose 0.26% to 8182.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.21% to 3013.23.
 

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health Care shares climbed 1.23% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Biogen, Inc. BIIB, up 38.49%, and GNC Holdings Inc GNC, up 17.79%.

In trading on Tuesday, materials shares fell 0.58%.
 

Top Headline
McDonald’s Corp MCD reported an earnings miss for the third quarter and its stock trades lower in the session.

McDonald's reported third-quarter GAAP earnings of $2.11 per share, which missed the consensus estimate of $2.21. The company reported quarterly sales of $5.43 billion, short of the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion.
 

Equities Trading UP
Biogen, Inc. BIIB shares shot up 38.49% to $309.53 on hopes of a potential Alzheimer’s treatment approval from the FDA.

Shares of Stamps.com, Inc. STMP surged 18.98% to $90.58 following the announcement of a deal with United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS
 

Cision Ltd. CISN was up, rising 17.99% to $9.97 after reports of 18,500 shares being bought by the institutional investor Bailard Inc.
 

Equities Trading DOWN
Top Ships, Inc. TOPS shares tumbled 18.20% to $3.46.

Shares of The Howard Hughes Corp. HHC were down 17.67% to $105.69 after closing at $128.40 on Monday.
Hasbro, Inc. HAS was down, falling 16.17% to $105.69.
 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.84% to $53.84, while gold traded up 0.06% to $1,488.90

Silver traded down 0.38% Tuesday to $17.53, while copper fell 0.28% to $2.63
 

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The Eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.05%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.49%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.05%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.04%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.01% while UK shares climbed 0.84%.
 

Economics

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will deliver a speech at 10:30 p.m. ET.