Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Michael Kors Gains On Earnings Beat; Commercial Vehicle Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 22,124.92 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.22 percent to 6,398.05. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03 percent to 2,481.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the technology sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Kopin Corporation KOPN and Electronics For Imaging, Inc. EFII.

In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.45 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO, down 9 percent, and Albemarle Corporation ALB, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

CVS Health Corp CVS reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

CVS Health reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.33 per share, on sales of $45.7 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.31 on revenue of $45.37 billion.

CVS Health narrowed its FY17 adjusted earnings guidance from $5.77-$5.93 per share, to $5.83-$5.93 per share.

Equities Trading UP

FibroGen Inc FGEN shares shot up 51 percent to $50.40 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q2 loss and disclosed positive topline results from Phase 2 study of pamrevlumab in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Shares of Triple-S Management Corp. GTS got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $19.62 as the company reported strong Q2 results and announced a $30 million Class B share buyback program.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $45.16 as the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and issued a strong guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. CVGI shares dropped 21 percent to $7.02 as the company posted weak quarterly earnings.

Shares of Depomed Inc DEPO were down 30 percent to $6.47 after the company reported downbeat Q2 earnings and lowered its FY17 sales guidance. Janney Capital downgraded Depomed from Buy to Neutral.

Bioamber Inc BIOA was down, falling around 46 percent to $0.538. BioAmber reported a $11 million offering of common stock and warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.45 percent to $49.17 while gold traded down 0.20 percent to $1,262.20.

Silver traded up 0.86 percent Tuesday to $16.39, while copper rose 1.19 percent to $2.9415.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.55 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.08 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.21 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index increased 1.6 points to 105.2 in July. However, economists were expecting a reading of 103.2 for July.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.3 percent during the first week of August versus July.

U.S. job openings rose to 6.16 million for June, from 5.67 million in May, the Labor Department reported.