Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 4%; Therapix Biosciences Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.85 percent to 25,102.73 while the NASDAQ declined 0.97 percent to 7,396.02. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.95 percent to 2,729.71.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the real estate shares gained 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Redfin Corp RDFN up 3 percent, and Government Properties Income Trust GOV up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares tumbled 3.05 percent.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Verizon said it earned $1.22 per share in the quarter on revenue of $32.6 billion, which was better than the $1.19 per share and $32.52 billion analysts were expecting.

Equities Trading UP

Therapix Biosciences Ltd. TRPX shares shot up 27 percent to $5.59. FSD Pharma Inc, a Canada-based licensed producer of marijuana, reached an agreement to acquire nano-cap company Therapix Biosciences, an Israel-based specialty clinical-stage pharmaceutical company with a focus on cannabinoid pharmaceuticals. Therapix Biosciences investors will receive $48 million worth of FSD Pharma stock.

Shares of Correvio Pharma Corp. CORV got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $3.85 after the company said it will resubmit a new drug application following conversations with the FDA.

Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc HMNY shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $0.0198 after the company announced it plans to spin off its movie subscription service, MoviePass, into its own company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Astec Industries, Inc. ASTE shares dropped 26 percent to $35.15 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results.

Shares of New Oriental Education & Tech Grp EDU were down 17 percent to $52.25 after reporting Q1 earnings.

Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. CEMI was down, falling around 19 percent to $8.04 after the company announced a proposed offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.24 percent to $66.42 while gold traded up 0.83 percent to $1,234.80.

Silver traded up 1.29 percent Tuesday to $14.775, while copper fell 0.92 to $2.76.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.58 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.91 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.86 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 2.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 1.69 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.24 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 5.6 percent year-over-year during the first two weeks of October.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index declined to 15.00 for October, versus a prior reading of 29.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 25.00.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Evanston, IL at 6:15 p.m. ET.