Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Lennar Tops Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.27% to 26,656.50 while the NASDAQ fell 0.33% to 7,979.12. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 2,939.19.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares gained 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Allergan plc AGN, up 27%, and Xencor, Inc. XNCR, up 14%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN announced better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Lennar reported second-quarter earnings of $1.30 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.14. The company reported quarterly sales of $5.6 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $5.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Pyxus International, Inc. PYX shares shot up 34% to $18.00 after Imperial Capital initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and announced a $71 price target.

Shares of Allergan plc AGN got a boost, shooting up 27% to $164.90. AbbVie Inc ABBV reached a deal to acquire Allergan for $63 billion. Allergan shareholders will receive 0.8660 AbbVie shares and $120.30 in cash for each Allergan share, for a total of $188.24 per Allergan share.

Xencor, Inc. XNCR shares were also up, gaining 14% to $38.68 after it was announced the company would replace HFF Inc in the S&P SmallCap 600.
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Equities Trading DOWN

Acer Therapeutics Inc. ACER shares tumbled 77% to $4.48 after the FDA rejected its New Drug Application for EDSIVO.

Shares of Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. CNAT were down 63% to $0.3404 after the company announced its ENCORE-LF trial of Emricasan did not meet its primary endpoint. The company will discontinue treatment, reduce its workforce and pursue strategic alternatives.

Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc. ALDX was down, falling 23% to $5.47. Aldeyra, which focuses on therapies for immune-mediated diseases, reported its Phase 3 trial dubbed SOLACE that evaluated its reproxalap, code-named ADX-102 (a topical ophthalmic solution) in non-infectious anterior uveitis did not meet both the primary and secondary endpoints.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $57.80, while gold traded up 0.8% to $1,429.60.

Silver traded down 0.2% Tuesday to $15.35, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.734.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.7%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares fell 0.1%.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 2.5% during the first three weeks of June versus May.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 2.5% year-over-year in April, versus a revised 2.6 percent rise in the prior month.

The FHFA's house price index rose 0.4% in April, compared to a 0.1% increase in the prior month.

New home sales fell 7.8% for May to an annual rate of 626,000 in May.

The Conference Board consumer confidence index fell to 121.5 for June, versus a revised reading of 131.3.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index fell to 3 for June, versus prior reading of 5.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic will speak in Atlanta, GA at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak in New York at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will speak in St. Louis, Missouri at 6:30 p.m. ET.