Courtesy of Benzinga.
Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.70 percent to 16,086.39 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.45 percent to 4,400.43. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.98 percent to 1,883.04.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Tuesday, technology shares surged by 1.64 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS), up 25 percent, and ChipMOS Technologies (Bermuda) Ltd (NASDAQ: IMOS) up 19 percent.
In trading on Tuesday, telecommunications services shares rose by just 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Telecom Italia SpA (ADR) (NYSE: TI), down 6 percent, and TELUS Corporation (USA) (NYSE: TU), down 1.1 percent.
Top Headline
Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE: HRL) reported a rise in its profit for the fiscal year 2016 first quarter and raised its forecast for the year.
For 2016, Hormel Foods now expects earnings of $1.50 to $1.56 per share, versus prior outlook of $1.43 to $1.48 per share.
Hormel reported quarterly earnings of $235.1 million, or $0.43 per share, compared to $171.7 million, or $0.32 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue declined 4.3 percent to $2.29 billion. Analysts projected a profit of $0.37 per share on revenue of $2.4 billion.
Equities Trading UP
ADT Corp (NYSE: ADT) shares shot up 50 percent to $40.20 after the company agreed to sell itself to an affiliate of certain funds managed by Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) for $42.00 per share.
Shares of Groupon Inc (NASDAQ: GRPN) got a boost, shooting up 39 percent to $4.00 following Friday’s Alibaba filing showing a 5.6 percent stake in the company.
Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS) shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $6.64 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results.
Equities Trading DOWN
Gogo Inc (NASDAQ: GOGO) shares dropped 35 percent to $8.98 after a report from Star Telgram said that American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL) is suing Gogo and looking to switch Internet providers.
Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: TNXP) were down 37 percent to $2.56 following the report of failed TNX-201 results.
Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) was down, falling around 30 percent to $13.05 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results and issued a weak full-year forecast.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.73 percent to $28.93, while gold traded down 2.13 percent to $1,213.00.
Silver traded down 2.69 percent Tuesday to $15.37, while copper rose 1.40 percent to $2.06.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.72 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.85 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.84 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.24 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.44 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.25 percent.
Economics
The Empire State manufacturing index rose to negative 16.64 for February, compared to negative 19.37 in January. However, economists were expecting a reading of negative 10.00.
The NAHB housing market index slipped to 58.00 in February, versus a previous reading of 60.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 60.00.
Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone M&A Global Intraday Update Markets
