Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Macy's Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.17 percent to 26,047.50 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.01 percent to 7,555.09. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,796.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday morning, the consumer staples shares rose 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included China SXT Pharmaceuticals Inc SXTC up 8 percent, and J M Smucker Co SJM up 8 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Macy's Inc M reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and disclosed a multi-year restructuring plan.

Macy's said it earned $2.73 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $8.455 billion versus expectations of $2.53 per share and $8.45 billion. Comparable sales on owned stores rose 0.4 percent in the quarter while comparable sales for owned plus licensed stores were up 0.7 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Telaria, Inc. TLRA shares got a boost, shooting up 40 percent to $5.07 after reporting stronger-than-expected Q4 results.

Shares of FTE Networks Inc FTNW shot up 166 percent to $2.87 after the company said it won $116 million of contracts in January and February.

NanoViricides Inc NNVC shares were also up, gaining 55 percent to $0.62 after the company announced an agreement with TheraCour to develop TheraCour's drugs to treat varicella zoster virus.

Equities Trading DOWN

TransEnterix, Inc. TRXC shares dropped 12 percent to $2.8038 after reporting weak quarterly earnings.

Shares of Alta Mesa Resources, Inc. AMR were down 63 percent to $0.3385 after the company reported preliminary Q4 results and Guggenheim downgraded the stock from Buy to Sell.

Neovasc Inc. NVCN was down, falling around 32 percent to $0.4260 after the company announced a $5 million stock offering at $0.45 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.14 percent to $55.56 while gold traded down 0.05 percent to $1,328.90.

Silver traded down 0.02 percent Tuesday to $15.925, while copper fell 0.2 percent to $2.9435.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.3 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.7 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts dropped 11.2 percent in December to an annual rate of 1.08 million.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 1.4 percent during the first three weeks of February versus January.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.3 percent for December.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in December, versus a 4.6 percent increase in November.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 131.40 in February, versus a prior revised reading of 121.70. However, economists expected a reading of 124.70.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.