Mid-Day Market Update: Medpace Drops After Weak Earnings; Angie's List Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 20,933.42 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 6,089.89. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,388.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy sector was the top gainer in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Isramco, Inc. ISRL, CONSOL Energy Inc. CNX, and Golar LNG Limited (USA) GLNG.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. ASPS, down 10 percent, and Ocwen Financial Corp OCN, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE posted upbeat earnings for its first quarter, but revenue missed estimates.

Pfizer said it earned $0.69 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $12.78 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.67 per share on revenue of $13.09 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Angie's List Inc ANGI shares shot up 60 percent to $9.43 after the local services consumer review platform received a takeover offer from IAC/InterActiveCorp IAC, which has been approved by the boards of both companies. As part of a merger agreement, IAC's HomeAdvisor unit would combine with Angie's List and then spin off into a new publicly traded company called ANGI Homeservices Inc.

Shares of Span-America Medical Systems, Inc. SPAN got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $28.88 after the company agreed to be acquired by Savaria Corporation for $29 per share.

Chegg Inc CHGG shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $11.31 after the company posted better-than-expected results for its first quarter. Raymond James upgraded Chegg from Market Perform to Outperform.

Equities Trading DOWN

Celadon Group, Inc. CGI shares dropped 63 percent to $1.48 as the company announced corporate updates. The company reported a new $225 million asset-based revolving credit facility and promoted Jonathan Russell to President and Chief Operating Officer.

Shares of Medpace Holdings Inc MEDP were down around 30 percent to $22.80 after the company reported downbeat quarterly earnings. Medpace also announced a $50 million share buyback plan.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD was down, falling around 18 percent to $11.25. AMD posted in-line earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed estimates. Macquarie downgraded AMD from Neutral to Underperform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.55 percent to $48.57 while gold traded down 0.03 percent to $1,255.10.

Silver traded down 0.13 percent Tuesday to $16.82, while copper fell 1.01 percent to $2.6335.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.64 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.80 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.37 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.52 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.58 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.3 percent during the first four weeks in April versus March.

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin two-day policy meeting today.