Mid-Afternoon Market Update: US Job Openings Climb; Leerink Swann Bullish On Intercept Pharma

Tuesday's last hour push begins with the Dow down 0.17 percent to 16,542.22 while the NASDAQ declined 0.53 percent to 4,378.19. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.30 percent to 1,931.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Fortegra Financial FRF and JW Mays MAYS.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.72 percent. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Resolute Energy REN, down 7.0percent, and ReneSola SOL, off 9.5 percent.

Top Headline

Flowers Foods FLO reported downbeat second-quarter results.

The Thomasville, Georgia-based company posted quarterly net income of $42.1 million, or $0.20 per share, down from $46.5 million, or $0.22 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted profit declined to $45 million, or $0.21 per share, versus $50.1 million, or $0.24 per share.

Its sales slipped 2.3% to $877.4 million from $898.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.24 per share on revenue of $940.83 million.

Equities Trading UP

Intercept Pharmaceuticals ICPT shares shot up 24.23 percent to $294.64 following the release of the company's Q2 earnings report and business update. Leerink Swann upgraded Intercept from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $270.00 to $445.00.

Shares of Dealertrack Technologies TRAK got a boost, shooting up 19.88 percent to $46.85 on upbeat Q2 results.

INSYS Therapeutics INSY shares were also up, gaining 5.16 percent to $31.99 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Nuance Communications NUAN were down 10.83 percent to $16.14 after the company reported downbeat Q3 revenue and issued a weak FQ4 forecast.

51job JOBS shares tumbled 8.08 percent to $35.16 on Q2 results.

Flowers Foods FLO was down, falling 4.05 percent to $19.20 after the company reported downbeat second-quarter results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.49 percent to $97.60, while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,310.80.

Silver traded down 0.72 percent Tuesday to $19.95 while copper fell 0.90 percent to $3.15.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.27 percent, the Spanish IBEX Index gained 0.47 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.23 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 1.21 percent and the French CAC 40 dipped 0.85 percent while UK shares declined 0.27 percent.

Economics

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index increased 0.7 points to 95.7 in July.

The ICSC-Goldman Store Sales Index fell 1.4% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index gained 1.1% during the first week of August versus July.

Job openings climbed to 4.67 million in June, versus 4.58 million in May, according to the US Department of Labor. The number of separations increased to 4.55 million in June versus 4.53 million in May.