Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 26,459.75 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.60 percent to 7,782.16.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16 percent to 2,888.90.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Tuesday, the consumer discretionary shares rose 0.91 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sunlands
Online Education Group - ADR (NYSE: STG) up 14
percent, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company (NASDAQ: HMHC) up 8 percent.
In trading on Tuesday, materials shares fell 1.78 percent.
Top Headline
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ: HELE)
reported upbeat results for its second quarter and raised its FY19 guidance.
Helen of Troy posted Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.98 per share on sales of $393.55 million. However, analysts expected earnings of
$1.60 per share on sales of $349.19 million.
Helen of Troy now expects FY19 adjusted earnings to $7.65 to $7.90 per share, and sales of $1.54 billion to $1.56 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Agile Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGRX)
shares shot up 59 percent to $0.734 after the company completed a formal dispute resolution process with the FDA.
Shares of GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP) got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $7.63. GAIN Capital commenced a
"modified Dutch auction" tender offer to purchase up to $50 million of shares of its common stock.
Antero Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: AM)
shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $33.10. Antero Midstream GP LP (NYSE: AMGP) announced plans to acquire Antero Midstream Partners.
Equities Trading DOWN
Trevena Inc (NASDAQ: TRVN) shares
dropped 58 percent to $1.255 after the FDA Staff noted that data assessment led to finding company’s opioid treatment has abuse,
overdose potential and ability to product a physical dependence, Reuters reported.
Shares of Affimed N.V. (NASDAQ: AFMD)
were down 22 percent to $3.6099 after the company said it has put its CD19/CD3-targeting T cell engager AFM11 on clinical hold.
AFM11 is being evaluated in two early-stage clinical trials to treat patients with relapsed or refractory CD19 positive B-cell
non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or NHL, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.
Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) was
down, falling around 13 percent to $78.36 after the company lowered its FY18 earnings and sales guidance. Stifel downgraded shares
of Blackbaud from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $120 to $88. Raymond James downgraded Blackbaud from Outperform to
Market Perform.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.39 percent to $74.58 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,191.70.
Silver traded up 0.57 percent Tuesday to $14.41, while copper rose 0.7 to $2.7865.
Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.23 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.81 percent, while
Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.25 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.40 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent
while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.
Economics
The NFIB small business optimism index declined 0.9 point to a reading of 108.8 in September.
The Treasury will auction 4-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Bali, Indonesia at 9:15 p.m. ET.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Bali, Indonesia at 10:35 p.m. ET.
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