Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; General Motors Profit Beats Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.40 percent to 20,132.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.26 percent to 5,678.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 2,297.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.73 percent in trading on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares slipped by 0.52 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CGG SA (ADR) CGG, down 5 percent, and PHI Inc. PHII, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

GM reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $43.9 billion, Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $41.5 billion.

GM expects 2017 adjusted earnings of $6.00 per share to $6.50 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Perceptron, Inc. PRCP shares shot up 10 percent to $7.10. Perceptron reported Q2 earnings of $0.27 per share on revenue of $21.75 million.

Shares of Real Goods Solar, Inc. RGSE got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $3.31 after dropping 7.89 percent on Monday. RGS Energy disclosed that it has completed its $11.5 million public offering of common stock and warrants.

Model N Inc MODN shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $10.05 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and raised its full-year forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

FXCM Inc FXCM shares dropped 44 percent to $3.83. Gain Capital Holdings Inc GCAP agreed to acquire the client base of FXCM's U.S. operations after FXCM reported that it will be withdrawing from U.S. business.

Shares of Giga-tronics, Incorporated GIGA were down around 20 percent to $0.859. Giga-tronics reported a Q3 loss of $0.06 per share on revenue of $3.2 million.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS was down, falling around 14 percent to $35.56 after the company reported downbeat quarterly sales and issued a weak forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.83 percent to $52.57 while gold traded down 0.06 percent to $1,231.40.

Silver traded down 0.33 percent Tuesday to $17.64, while copper fell 0.55 percent to $2.64.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.50 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.48 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.60 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.07 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.70 percent.

Economics

The U.S. trade deficit dropped 3.2 percent to $44.3 billion in December. Economists expected a $44.9 billion deficit. Exports increased 2.7 percent $190.7 billion, while imports rose 1.5 percent to $235 billion in the month.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.7 percent year-over-year for the first week of February.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will also auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.