Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; General Motors Beats Q1 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.19% to 23838.15 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46% to 8,849.94. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08% to 2,866.26.

The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 1,205,130 coronavirus cases with around 71,070 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 219,320 coronavirus cases with 25,610 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 213,010 confirmed cases and 29,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,688,630 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 258,080 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LivePerson, Inc. LPSN, up 25%, and OneSpan Inc. OSPN, up 14%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

GM reported quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $0.33. The company reported quarterly sales of $32.7 billion, which surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $31.12 billion.

Equities Trading UP

MacroGenics, Inc. MGNX shares shot up 102% to $15.35 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Shares of CPS Technologies Corporation CPSH got a boost, shooting 69% to $1.8617 following Q1 results. CPS Technologies posted Q1 earnings of $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.06 per share.

Vapotherm, Inc. VAPO shares were also up, gaining 31% to $29.25 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly sales.

Equities Trading DOWN

CleanSpark, Inc. CLSK shares tumbled 23% to $2.3550. CleanSpark shares gained 124% after the company reported a strong rise in year-to-date revenue through April 2020.

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. ANDE were down 19% to $12.46 after reporting Q1 results. Andersons posted a Q1 loss of $1.32 per share.

Inogen, Inc. INGN was down, falling 16% to $44.38 after the company reported Q1 results and withdrew its FY20 guidance.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 3.3% to $25.38, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,707.80.

Silver traded up 1.1% Wednesday to $15.275, while copper rose 0.6% to $2.3465.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 2.06%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.3% while UK shares rose 0.6%.

Economics

Private-sector companies fired 20.2 million workers in April, after shedding a revised 149,000 workers in the prior month, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.