Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Carnival Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.17 percent to 20,585.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06 percent to 5,843.76. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 5,843.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd TRQ and Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (ADR) ACH.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.18 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Black Box Corporation BBOX, down 2 percent, and Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo Inc HCOM, down 1.5 percent.

Top Headline

Carnival Corp CCL reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Carnival reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $3.79 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.35 per share on revenue of $3.78 billion.

Carnival raised its FY17 earnings outlook to $3.50 to $3.70 per share, versus earlier forecast of $3.30 to $3.60 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Catalyst Biosciences Inc CBIO shares shot up 184 percent to $15.23 after the company reported IND approval in South Korea for next-gen subcutaneous Factor IX program.

Shares of Exeter Resource Corp XRA got a boost, shooting up 59 percent to $1.85 after the company agreed to be acquired by Goldcorp.

Akers Biosciences Inc AKER shares were also up, gaining 75 percent to $2.44 after the company disclosed that it has received an initial order for its rapid cholesterol self-test from First Check Diagnostics, LLC.

Equities Trading DOWN

CryoPort Inc CYRX shares dropped 44 percent to $2.11. Cryoport reported a proposed public offering of common stock.

Shares of Digital Ally, Inc. DGLY were down around 9 percent to $4.20 after reporting downbeat quarterly results.

Superconductor Technologies, Inc. SCON was down, falling around 10 percent to $1.38. Superconductors Technologies posted a Q4 loss of $0.61 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.13 percent to $48.27 while gold traded up 0.11 percent to $1,260.20.

Silver traded up 0.43 percent Tuesday to $18.19, while copper fell 0.19 percent to $2.63.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.31 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.38 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.55 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.03 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.11 percent.

Economics

The trade gap in goods declined to $64.8 billion in February, compared to $68.8 billion in January. Wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in February.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.7 percent during the first four weeks of March versus February.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index gained 5.7 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 5.6 percent growth.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index gained to 125.60 in March, versus 116.1 in February. Economists projected a reading of 114.00.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index came in flat at 17.00 for March, versus a prior reading of 17.00.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will also auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George is set to speak in Midwest City, Okla. at 12:45 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Kaplan will speak in Dallas, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.