Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges Over 100 Points; Allegheny Technologies Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.68 percent to 19,934.90 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.83 percent to 5,599.05. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.72 percent to 2,281.57.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares gained around 2.36 percent in trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI, and LSB Industries, Inc. LXU.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares slipped by 1.34 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included BT Group plc (ADR) BT, down 21 percent, and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported lower-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter as competitive pressures from T-Mobile US Inc TMUS and Sprint Corp S have weighed on wireless revenues.

Verizon reported Q4 earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $32.3 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.89 per share on revenue of $32.08 billion.

Equities Trading UP

GenVec Inc GNVC shares shot up 41 percent to $6.40 after Intrexon Corp XON announced plans to buy GenVec at $7 per share.

Shares of Multi Packaging Solutions Intrntnl Ltd MPSX got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $17.79 after WestRock Co WRK agreed to acquire the company for $18.00 per share.

Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI shares were also up, gaining 32 percent to $22.35 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

BT Group plc (ADR) BT shares dropped 21 percent to $19.23 after the company lowered its 2017 and 2018 guidance due to Italian accounting errors.

Shares of Bioamber Inc BIOA were down around 14 percent to $4.50. BioAmber increased its previously reported public offering to US$17.5 million.

Energous Corp WATT was down, falling around 13 percent to $15.44. Oppenheimer downgraded Energous from Outperform to Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.21 percent to $53.39 while gold traded down 0.62 percent to $1,211.00.

Silver traded down 0.47 percent Tuesday to $17.11, while copper rose 2.40 percent to $2.71.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.25 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.89 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.02 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.02 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.5 percent year-over-year for the first three weeks of January.

The Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 55.10 for January, versus a prior reading of 54.30. Analysts projected a reading of 54.50.

Sales of existing home sales dropped 2.8 percent in December at an annual pace of 5.49 million. Economists were expecting a rate of 5.5 million.

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index gained to 12.00 for January, versus a prior reading of 8.00. Economists expected a reading of 7.00.