Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Freshpet Slides On Earnings Miss; CommerceHub Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.33 percent to 24,793.09 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.39 percent to 7,359.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02 percent to 2,721.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the basic materials shares gained 0.98 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included McEwen Mining Inc MUX, up 6 percent, and Hecla Mining Company HL, up 5 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell 0.72 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI, down 14 percent, and Insys Therapeutics Inc INSY down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Ciena Corporation CIEN reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Ciena reported adjusted earnings of $0.15 per share on sales of $646.1 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.13 per share on sales of $642.0 million.

Equities Trading UP

Amedica Corporation AMDA shares shot up 30 percent to $2.60 after the company reported the FDA clearance of Valeo C+CsC with Lumen Interbody Fusion Device.

Shares of CommerceHub Inc CHUBA got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $22.50 as the company agreed to be acquired by GTCR and Sycamore Partners for $22.75 per share in cash.

Aemetis Inc AMTX shares were also up, gaining 81 percent to $1.15 following news that the company has completed operation of cellulosic ethanol integrated demonstration unit.

Equities Trading DOWN

GlycoMimetics Inc GLYC shares dropped 19 percent to $18.59 after reporting the design of phase 3 trial of GMI-1271 in relapsed/refractory AML. GlycoMimetics reported a Q4 loss of $0.27 per share.

Shares of Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc MRNS were down 15 percent to $4.45. Marinus Pharma reported a FY 2017 loss of $0.80 per share.

Freshpet Inc FRPT was down, falling around 13 percent to $18.00 following Q4 earnings miss and soft FY18 sales guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.35 percent to $62.35 while gold traded up 1.30 percent to $1,337.00.

Silver traded up 2.49 percent Tuesday to $16.82, while copper rose 1.07 percent to $3.1615.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.04 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.75 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.19 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.06 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.43 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.5 percent for February versus January.

U.S. factory orders declined 1.4 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.3 percent gain.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will speak in New York City at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Houston at 8:30 p.m. ET.