Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Down; Albertsons Posts Upbeat Earnings

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.82% to 35,771.77 while the NASDAQ fell 0.39% to 14,885.05. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.63% to 4,640.85.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 62,661,270 cases with around 861,330 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 35,875,790 cases and 484,210 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,558,690 COVID-19 cases with 620,140 deaths. In total, there were at least 311,276,890 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,514,050 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 0.5% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Permian Basin Royalty Trust PBT, up 8% and Weatherford International plc WFRD up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares dipped by 1.3%.

Top Headline

Albertsons Companies, Inc. ACI reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and boosted its FY21 forecast.

Albertsons posted quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.61 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $16.73 billion, versus expectations of $16.08 billion.

Albertsons Companies raised its FY21 EPS guidance from $2.50-$2.60 to $2.90-$2.95.

 

Equities Trading UP

TSR, Inc. TSRI shares shot up 34% to $11.99 following Q2 results. The company reported Q2 revenue of $23.9 million, versus $16.1 million year over year.

Shares of Accolade, Inc. ACCD got a boost, shooting 26% to $24.11 after the company reported Q3 earnings results and raised FY22 sales guidance.

Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc. NES shares were also up, gaining 21% to $2.8016.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Huadi International Group Co., Ltd. HUDI shares tumbled 59% to $11.11.

Shares of Bone Biologics Corporation BBLG were down 17% to $4.5001. Bone Biologics shares surged 57% on Monday following the company's presentation at the HC Wainwright BioConnect Virtual Conference..

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. PACB was down, falling 12% to $14.58 after the company issued Q4 and FY21 sales guidance below estimates. The company announced preliminary revenue of approximately $36 million for its fourth quarter, below the consensus estimate of $36.58 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $79.11, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,805.10.

Silver traded up 0.4% Tuesday to $22.56 while copper rose 0.7% to $4.3840.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%. The German DAX gained 0.8%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.7% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.6%.

Spanish industrial production climbed 4.8% year-over-year in November following a revised 0.7% decline in the previous month. Retail sales in the United Kingdom rose 0.6% on a like-for-like basis from a year ago in December.

Economics

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index climbed to a three-month high of 98.9 in December from 98.4 in the previous month.

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

Check out the full economic calendar here