Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Darden Restaurants Tops Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 24,775.80 while the NASDAQ declined 0.16 percent to 6,983.31. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,689.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included PPL Corp PPL, down 3 percent, and Genie Energy Ltd GNE down 2 percent.


Top Headline

Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Darden reported Q2 earnings of $0.73 per share on revenue of $1.88 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $1.85 billion.

Darden raised its FY 2018 earnings guidance from $4.38-$4.50 per share, to $4.45-$4.53 per share.

Equities Trading UP

China Recycling Energy Corp. CREG shares shot up 38 percent to $3.77 following news of an energy storage development cooperation contract with Shanghai Electric and Fujian Tongyong.

Shares of Pfenex Inc PFNX got a boost, shooting up 37 percent to $2.85. Pfenex earned $18.5 million in milestones and updated worldwide license and option agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Riot Blockchain Inc RIOT shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $41.15. Riot Blockchain reported a $37 million private placement.


Equities Trading DOWN

Yield10 Bioscience Inc YTEN shares dropped 26 percent to $2.12 after the company reported pricing of its $12.6 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of ImmuCell Corporation ICCC were down 15 percent to $7.49. ImmuCell priced its $3 million offering at $7.30 per share.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. FDS was down, falling around 7 percent to $190.20. FactSet posted upbeat Q1 earnings, while sales missed estimates.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.40 percent to $57.39 while gold traded down 0.05 percent to $1,264.90.

Silver traded down 0.09 percent Tuesday to $16.19, while copper fell 0.38 percent to $3.134.


Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.31 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.11 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts rose 3.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.297 million in November. Economists were expecting a 1.27 million annual rate.

U.S. current account deficit dropped 19 percent to $100.6 billion in the third quarter.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.4 percent during the first three weeks of December versus November.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Roseville, Minnesota at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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