Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Goldman Sachs Earnings Miss Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.52% to 35,366.17 while the NASDAQ fell 1.15% to 14,722.00. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.32% to 4,601.52.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 67,631,190 cases with around 874,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 37,618,270 cases and 486,780 deaths, while Brazil reported over 23,083,290 COVID-19 cases with 621,260 deaths. In total, there were at least 331,801,530 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,565,720 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT, up 10% and Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. REPX up 3%.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 1.9%.

Top Headline

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Goldman Sachs posted quarterly earnings of $10.81 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $11.73 per share. The company’s quarterly revenue came in at $12.64 billion, versus expectations of $12.01 billion. Goldman Sachs said fourth-quarter investment banking revenue totaled $3.8 billion, representing an increase of 45% year-over-year.

 

Equities Trading UP

NeuroMetrix, Inc. NURO shares shot up 37% to $6.77 after the company eeceived FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for the treatment of chronic chemo induced peripheral neuropathy with its wearable neurostimulation technology.

Shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI got a boost, shooting 28% to $83.40. Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it plans to acquire game developer and interactive entertainment content publisher Activision Blizzard for $95 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion.

Vinco Ventures, Inc. BBIG shares were also up, gaining 26% to $5.14 following a 15% surge on Friday.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Splash Beverage Group, Inc. SBEV shares tumbled 27% to $3.02 after jumping around 119% on Friday.

Shares of BIT Mining Limited BTCM were down 19% to $3.97.

Silvergate Capital Corporation SI was down, falling 17% to $115.20 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $85.27, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,810.80.

Silver traded down 0.1% Tuesday to $22.885 while copper fell 0.6% to $4.3935.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.7%. The German DAX dropped 1.2%, French CAC 40 fell 1.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1%.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone increased by 22.6 points to a reading of 49.4 in January, while German ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment climbed 22.6 points to 51.7 in January. Italy’s trade surplus shrank to EUR 4.163 billion in November from EUR 6.864 billion in the year-ago month.

The UK unemployment rate dropped to 4.1% in the three months to November, recording the lowest level since the three months to June 2020, while number of employed people rose by 60,000 on quarter to 32.475 million during the three months to November.

Economics

The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index declined to -0.7 in January from 31.9 in the previous month.

The NAHB housing market index declined by 1 point to a reading of 83 in January from a ten-month high level of 84 in December.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for November will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here