Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Walmart Tops Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.23% to 34,248.63 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 13,431.72. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.13% to 4,158.02.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,994,750 cases with around 586,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 25,228,990 cases and 278,710 deaths, while Brazil reported over 15,657,390 COVID-19 cases with 436,530 deaths. In total, there were at least 163,675,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,391,530 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Lantronix, Inc. LTRX, up 9%, and Aurora Mobile Limited JG, up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast .

Walmart reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.69 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.21 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $138.31 billion, exceeding market views of $131.95 billion. Sales at US stores open at least a year, excluding fuel, increased 6% last quarter.

Walmart now projects fiscal 2022 earnings to rise in high single digits, while the company had earlier expected a slight drop in profit.

Equities Trading UP

Agenus Inc. AGEN shares shot up 29% to $4.205. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Agenus entered into a global exclusive license agreement, under which Bristol Myers will receive an exclusive license to Agenus' AGEN1777 and a second undisclosed target.

Shares of Ultralife Corporation ULBI got a boost, shooting 21% to $10.32 after the company announced it was awarded an IDIQ contract under the US Army's $1.25 billion conformal wearable battery program. The company will receive no more than $168 million over a 3 year base period.

BM Technologies, Inc. BMTX shares were also up, gaining 20% to $11.24 after the company reported record Q1 results.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. TOMZ shares tumbled 17% to $2.4591 after the company swung to a loss in the first quarter.

Shares of E-Home Household Service Holdings Limited EJH were down 13% to $35.69 after tumbling 24% on Monday. The company recently reported the pricing of its initial public offering at $4.5 per share.

TPG Pace Beneficial Finance Corp. TPGY was down, falling 16% to $11.85. On Monday night, TPG Pace Beneficial Finance reported in an 8-K filing that its SPAC merger with EVBox could be at risk.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $66.55, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,868.30.

Silver traded up 1% Tuesday to $28.55 while copper rose 1.1% to $4.7645.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5%, French CAC 40 rose 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.6%.

The Eurozone economy contracted 0.6% on quarter in January-March, while trade surplus shrank to EUR 15.8 billion in March from EUR 29.9 billion in the year-ago month. Italy's trade surplus shrank to EUR 5.19 billion in March from EUR 5.70 billion.

Labor productivity in the UK increased 0.8% on quarter during the first three months of the year, while unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% in the three months to March.

Economics

Housing starts in the US dipped 9.5% to an annualized rate of 1.569 million in April, while building permits rose 0.3% to an annual rate of 1.76 million.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 13% year-over-year during the first two weeks of May.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 11:05 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here