Mid-Day Market Update: RetailMeNot Gains After Strong Q4 Results; Aviragen Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 20,428.05 while the NASDAQ declined 0.02 percent to 5,762.74. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,327.38.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed by 0.27 percent in trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aircastle Limited AYR, and LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 0.73 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG, down 3 percent, and Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) ELP, down 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

T-Mobile US Inc TMUS reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results.

T-Mobile posted Q4 earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue of $10.18 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.29 per share on revenue of $9.84 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ZAIS Group Holdings, Inc. ZAIS shares shot up 90 percent to $3.90. Christian Zugel disclosed a 7.5 percent stake in Zais Group.

Shares of Cynosure, Inc. CYNO got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $65.90. Hologic, Inc. HOLX announced plans to buy Cynosure for $1.65 billion.

RetailMeNot Inc SALE shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $10.50 after the company posted stronger-than-expected Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aviragen Therapeutics Inc AVIR shares dropped 37 percent to $0.681 after the company reported top-line results from its Phase 2b SPIRITUS trial of vapendavir. Ladenburg Thalmann downgraded Aviragen Therapeutics from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of Gevo, Inc. GEVO were down around 31 percent to $1.60. Gevo reported the pricing of $11.9 million public offering of common stock and warrants and signed a Letter of Intent with HCS Holding for the commercial supply of isooctane.

Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB was down, falling around 12 percent to $29.12 after the company issued a weak forecast for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2018. Susquehanna downgraded Hibbett from Positive to Neutral, while SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.01 percent to $53.97 while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,226.40.

Silver traded up 0.05 percent Tuesday to $17.83, while copper fell 1.96 percent to $2.73.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.65 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.10 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.06 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.6 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index increased 0.4 percent during the first two weeks of February versus January.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart is set to speak in Huntsville, Ala. at 12:50 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Houston, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.