Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Procter & Gamble Tops Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.28% to 27146.26 while the NASDAQ fell 0.49% to 8252.83. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.40% to 3,008.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included QTS Realty Trust Inc QTS, up 6%, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc ARE, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

Procter & Gamble Co PG reported better-than-expected Q4 results.

Procter & Gamble reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.10 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.05. The company reported quarterly sales of $17.1 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $16.86 billion.

Equities Trading UP

LSB Industries, Inc. LXU shares shot up 25% to $4.9650 after the company reported Q2 results.

Shares of RingCentral, Inc. RNG got a boost, shooting up 15% to $144.65 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and raised FY19 guidance.

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. SLCA shares were also up, gaining 14% to $11.73 after reporting upbeat Q2 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

McDermott International, Inc. MDR shares tumbled 38% to $6.21 after the company reported downbeat results for its second quarter and issued FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated GVA were down 23% to $34.09 after reporting preliminary results for its second quarter. Granite reported preliminary Q2 EPS of $(2.10)-$(2.05) and sales of $785 million to $790 million.

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. SSNC was down, falling 20% to $47.51 after the company issued Q3 and FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates. DA Davidson also downgraded the company's stock from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $57.32, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,428.70.

Silver traded up 0.4% Tuesday to $16.505, while copper fell 1% to $2.69.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.7%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 1.9%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.3% while UK shares fell 0.2%.

Economics

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

U.S. personal income rose 0.4% for June, while consumer spending increased 0.3% last month.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 2.4% year-over-year in May, versus a 2.5% rise in the prior month.

The Conference Board consumer confidence index rose to 135.7 in July, versus previous reading of 124.3.

The pending home sales index rose 2.8% for June.