Nasdaq Down 50 Points; Willis Towers Watson Posts Upbeat Profit

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 50 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded up 0.11% to 38,422.51 while the NASDAQ fell 0.32% to 15,547.61. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.05% to 4,939.69.

Check This Out: Uber To Rally Around 15%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Tuesday

 

Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Materials shares rose by 1.8% on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell by 1.1%.

 

Top Headline

 

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company WTW reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Willis Towers Watson posted earnings of $7.44 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $7.05 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in $2.91 billion versus market estimates of $2.92 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Tenax Therapeutics, Inc. TENX shares shot up 46% to $12.77 after the company announced the USPTO granted notice of allowance for the U.S. patent application "Levosimendan For Treating Pulmonary Hypertension With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction."

Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR got a boost, surging 26% to $21.12 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales results and issued guidance.

Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. ULCC shares were also up, gaining 23% to $6.34 following fourth-quarter results.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Sunworks, Inc. SUNW shares dropped 52% to $0.0993 after the company announced it ceased operations and filed voluntary petitions for relief under the provisions of Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code.

Shares of BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. BRTX were down 57% to $1.50. BioRestorative Therapies announced exercise of warrants and issuance of new warrants in a private placement for $8.1 million gross proceeds priced at-the-market.

Peraso Inc. PRSO was down, falling 45% to $1.6799 after the company announced pricing of $4 million underwritten public offering.

Also Check This Out: Top 5 Tech Stocks You May Want To Dump This Month

 

Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $73.00 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,052.20.

Silver traded up 0.4% to $22.50 on Tuesday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.7815.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.63%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.90% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.62% The German DAX fell 0.76% French CAC 40 rose 0.65% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.53%.

Retail sales in the Eurozone fell by 1.1% month-over-month in December versus a revised 0.3% increase in the prior month, while median consumer expectations for Eurozone inflation over the next 12 months declined for a third straight month to 3.2% in December. The HCOB Eurozone construction PMI fell to 41.3 in January from 43.6 a month ago.

The S&P Global UK construction PMI climbed to 48.8 in January from 46.8 in the prior month. The S&P Global France construction PMI declined to 39.6 in January from 42.6 in December, while German construction PMI dipped to 36.3 from 37 in December.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.53%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumping 4.04% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 3.23%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.63%.

Household spending in Japan fell by 2.5% year-over-year in December compared to market expectations for a 2.1% decline. Average cash earnings in Japan rose by 1% year-over-year in December.

 

Economics

 

There are no major economic releases for Tuesday.

Now Read This: Estée Lauder Analysts Increase Their Forecasts After Upbeat Earnings