Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Jumps 4%; Guess? Shares Climb On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.69% to 20235.29 while the NASDAQ rose 4.09% to 7,276.05. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.78% to 2,440.68.

US reported a total of 9,400 coronavirus cases with around 150 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 35,000 confirmed cases and 2,900 deaths, while Iran confirmed a total of over 18,000 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since the outbreak began. In total, there are at least 222,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 9,100 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 6.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NGL Energy Partners LP NGL, up 87%, and CrossAmerica Partners LP CAPL, up 65%.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares dipped 2.9%.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Lennar posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.27 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.84 per share. The company’s homebuilding sales came in at $4.172 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $4.16 billion.

The company also suspended its financial forecast following coronavirus uncertainties.

Equities Trading UP

Guess?, Inc. GES shares shot up 139% to $9.39 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Shares of Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY got a boost, shooting 74% to $8.45. Dave & Buster's reported a shareholder rights plan with duration of 364 days.

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII shares were also up, gaining 61% to $7.23 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Acer Therapeutics Inc. ACER shares tumbled 30% to $1.41. Acer Therapeutics said its fourth-quarter loss per share narrowed from 85 cents to 51 cents. Separately, the company said the Office of New Drugs of the FDA has denied its appeal of the Complete Response Letter for EDSIVO NDA.

Shares of AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. AMN were down 14% to $70.47. Sidoti & Co. downgraded AMN Healthcare Services from Buy to Neutral.

BioNTech SE BNTX was down, falling 32% to $62.62. BioNTech shares jumped 38% on Wednesday after the company on Tuesday announced it is working to co-develop a potential coronavirus vaccine with Pfizer.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 27.5% to $25.97, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,473.70.

Silver traded up 3.3% Thursday to $12.155, while copper rose 1.8% to $2.1905.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.91% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.93%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 2.29%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2%, and the French CAC 40 rose 2.68% while UK shares rose 1.4%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 70,000 to 281,000 in the week ended March 14. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 220,000.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index tumbled to -12.7 in March, versus a reading of 36.7 in February.

The US current account deficit narrowed 12.4% to $109.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Economists were projecting a deficit of $109.0 billion.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% for February.

Domestic supplies of natural gas declined 9 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a drop of 8 billion cubic feet.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.