Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Hasbro Profit Beats Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.36% to 29381.31 while the NASDAQ rose 0.67% to 9692.60. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.56% to 3,370.91.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 1.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SBA Communications Corporation SBAC, up 8%, and Uniti Group Inc UNIT, up 6%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.1%.

Top Headline

Hasbro, Inc. HAS reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.

Hasbro reported quarterly earnings of $1.24 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.91. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.428 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.44 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Sprint Corporation S shares shot up 74% to $8.34 following a report suggesting a US judge is expected to rule in favor of the company's proposed T-Mobile merger.

Shares of Amkor Technology, Inc. AMKR got a boost, shooting 20% to $13.84 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 sales results. The company also issued Q1 guidance above estimates.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REXN shares were also up, gaining 17% to $2.40 after the company announced a license agreement with Zhejiang HaiChang Biotechnology.

Equities Trading DOWN

Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. PHIO shares tumbled 52% to $3.185 after the company priced 2 million share offering at $4 per unit.

Shares of Myomo, Inc. MYO were down 46% to $6.26 after the company announced pricing of public offering of common stock and warrants.

Pyxus International, Inc. PYX was down, falling 31% to $4.95 following Q3 results. Pyxus International posted a quarterly loss of $2.4 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.56 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $50.47, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,571.90.

Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $17.685, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.579.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.7%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.7% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.9%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.5% while UK shares rose 0.8%.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index climbed to 104.3 in January, versus a reading of 102.7 in December.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.7% during the first week of February versus January.

The number of job openings declined 364,000 to 6.423 million for December, versus a revised reading of 6.787 million in the prior month, according to the Labor Department.

Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles is set to speak at 12:15 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 2:15 p.m. ET.