Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Greenbrier Reports Q2 Earnings Beat

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 2.05% to 23145.91 while the NASDAQ rose 0.98% to 7,990.46. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.51% to 2,703.96.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. U.S. reported a total of 368,400 coronavirus cases with around 10,900 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 140,500 coronavirus cases with 13,700 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 132,500 confirmed cases and 16,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 1,359,300 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 75,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 7.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Western Midstream Partners, LP WES, up 21%, and DCP Midstream, LP DCP, up 18%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.

Greenbrier reported quarterly earnings of $0.46 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.29 per share. The company’s sales came in at $623.8 million, missing the consensus view of $798.97 million.

Greenbrier has lowered its global workforce by 3,500 employees. The company announced plans to suspend earlier issued guidance and cut overhead costs.

Equities Trading UP

Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER shares shot up 76% to $8.24. Akers Biosciences filed amendment to $25 million offering of stock and debt securities. Akers Biosciences shares jumped around 147% on Monday following an update from the company regarding its COVID-19 vaccine development program.

Shares of Caleres, Inc. CAL got a boost, shooting 57% to $6.61 after jumping 25% on Monday.

Sasol Limited SSL shares were also up, gaining 55% to $3.93 amid hopes of production cuts by key producers to sustain prices, as well as positive economic sentiment on a potential leveling off of coronavirus cases in some regions.

Equities Trading DOWN

SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC shares tumbled 20% to $2.89 after reporting weaker-than-expected Q4 results.

Shares of Chimera Investment Corporation CIM were down 16% to $6.88 after the company reported a public offering of convertible senior notes.

BioNTech SE BNTX was down, falling 15% to $44.88.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.9% to $26.84, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,705.20.

Silver traded up 2.6% Tuesday to $15.56, while copper rose 3.8% to $2.302.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.8 % the Spanish Ibex Index rose 3.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 4.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 4%, and the French CAC 40 rose 3.3% while UK shares rose 3 %.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.9% during March versus February.

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index declined 6.2 points to a reading of 47.8 in April.

The number of US job openings fell by 130,000 to 6.882 million in February, versus a revised 7.012 million in the earlier month.

Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.