Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; AutoZone Profit Beats Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 24,973.49 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.02 percent to 7,395.21. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.06 percent to 2,734.69.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the consumer staples shares surged 0.57 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dean Foods Company DF, up 3 percent, and Viña Concha y Toro S.A. VCO up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 0.2 percent.

Top Headline

AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter.

AutoZone posted Q3 earnings of $13.42 per share on sales of $2.66 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $13.01 per share on sales of $2.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Photronics, Inc. PLAB shares shot up 11 percent to $9.375 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results.

Shares of Ferroglobe PLC GSM got a boost, shooting up 7 percent to $12.17 following stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Precipio, Inc. PRPO shares were also up, gaining 42 percent to $0.597 after the nano-cap specialty diagnostics company said it saw an acceleration of sales in its Pathology services in April. The company now expects to see a sequential double digit quarterly sales growth.

Equities Trading DOWN

Libbey Inc. LBY shares dropped 8 percent to $6.28 after the company announced the suspension of its quarterly dividend. The company cited the prioritization of debt reduction and strategic investments as a reason for the move.

Shares of IZEA, Inc. IZEA were down 12 percent to $1.8012 after the company posted downbeat quarterly results.

Evofem Biosciences, Inc. EVFM was down, falling around 11 percent to $4.20 after the company reported pricing of public offering of common stock and warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.28 percent to $72.44 while gold traded up 0.32 percent to $1,295.00.

Silver traded up 0.67 percent Tuesday to $16.63, while copper rose 1.10 to $3.1325.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.75 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.51 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.38 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.07 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index rose to 16.00 in May, versus prior reading of -3.00. Economists expected a reading of 9.00.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.