Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls Over 100 Points; Valeant Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.65 percent to 17,622.57 while the NASDAQ declined 0.89 percent to 4,848.11. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.94 percent to 2,046.75. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Tuesday, healthcare shares declined by 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc, up 9 percent, and pSivida Corp. PSDV, up 5 percent. In trading on Tuesday, financial shares tumbled by 1.28 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Westfield Financial, Inc. WFD, down 9 percent, and Evercore Partners Inc. EVR, down 5 percent. Top Headline Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter, but the company missed analysts' sales estimates. Walgreens posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.31 per share on revenue of $30.18 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $30.66 billion. Walgreens raised the low end of its fiscal 2016 forecast. The company now projects annual earnings of $4.35 to $4.55 per share. Equities Trading UP Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX shares shot up 9 percent to $28.42. Valeant announced that an ad hoc committee of the board of directors concluded its review of various Philidor and related account matters. The committee stated it has not identified any additional items that would require restatements beyond what has already been disclosed. Shares of Inventergy Global Inc INVT got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $2.66. Inventergy reported a FY15 loss of $(3.41) per share on revenue of $4.88 million. Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc ICPT shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $154.73 as investors found the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest briefing documents to be encouraging. The FDA has a scheduled advisory committee meeting on Thursday and will discuss the new drug application 20799, obeticholic acid oral tablets, submitted by Intercept Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis in combination with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in adults with an inadequate response to UDCA or as monotherapy in adults unable to tolerate UDCA. Equities Trading DOWN Allergan plc Ordinary Shares AGN shares dropped 16 percent to $233.14 amid fears that the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have revamped their efforts to limit domestic companies from doing so-called "tax inversion" deals. Shares of Great Basin Scientific Inc GBSN were down 15 percent to $3.81. Great Basin Scientific reported the expansion of its leadership team. The company appointed Mike Blitz as vice president of U.S. sales, and promoted Sandra Nielsen to the position of senior vice president of sales and marketing. Godaddy Inc GDDY was down, falling around 9 percent to $29.41 as the company reported follow-on offering of 16.5 million shares via selling holders. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.78 percent to $35.98 while gold traded up 0.96 percent to $1,231.00. Silver traded up 1.18 percent Tuesday to $15.12, while copper fell 0.07 percent to $2.14. Eurozone European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.90 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.44 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 3 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 2.63 percent, and the French CAC 40 tumbled 2.18 percent, while U.K. shares fell 1.19 percent. Economics The U.S. trade deficit increased 2.6 percent to $47.1 billion in February, versus a revised $45.9 billion in January. The country's exports increased to $178.1 billion in February, while imports rose to $225.1 billion. The Markit Services PMI rose to 51.30 in March, versus a prior reading of 51.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 51.00. The ISM non-manufacturing PMI gained to 54.50 in March, versus a previous reading of 53.40. However, economists were expecting a reading of 54.00.