Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 5.5%; Aclaris Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.12% to 27044.34 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 8157.70. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04% to 2,998.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.9% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. IIPE, up 3%, and HCP, Inc. HCP, up 3%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc CBRL reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued FY20 guidance above analyst estimates.

Cracker Barrel posted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.70 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.48. The company reported quarterly sales of $787.098 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $773.97 million.

Equities Trading UP

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. ACRS shares shot up 59% to $1.7450 after the company reported its A-101 45% Topical Solution met all primary and secondary efficacy endpoints in pivotal Phase 3 trial for the treatment of common warts.

Shares of Vuzix Corporation VUZI got a boost, shooting up 9% to $2.60 after the company reported regulatory compliance approval for M400 Smart Glasses from the US, EU, Japanese and Canadian regulatory agencies.

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. APOG shares were also up, gaining 12% to $45.98 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Champions Oncology, Inc. CSBR shares tumbled 15% to $5.86 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Shares of Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. BBCP were down 14% to $3.7550 after the company reported downbeat results for its third quarter and issued weak FY19 sales forecast.

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. BNED was down, falling 22% to $3.1550. Sidoti & Co. downgraded Barnes & Noble Education from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.5% to $59.45, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,511.10.

Silver traded up 0.2% Tuesday to $18.03, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.6315.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.12%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.73%. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.11% and the French CAC 40 rose 0.2% while UK shares fell 0.11%.

Economics

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

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.9% during the first two weeks of September versus August T.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase.

The NAHB housing market index rose 1 point to a reading of 68 in September.

The Treasury International Capital report for July will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.