Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Accenture Beats Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.17% to 25490.00 while the NASDAQ fell 0.14% to 9894.89. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.01% to 3050.43.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,381,360 cases with around 121,970 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 1,188,630 COVID-19 cases with 53,830 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 613,140 confirmed cases and 8,590 deaths. In total, there were at least 9,440,530 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 483,200 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK, up 22%, and PrimeEnergy Resources Corporation PNRG, up 7%.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

Accenture Plc ACN reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Accenture posted Q3 earnings of $1.90 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.85 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.99 billion, surpassing expectations of $10.88 billion.


Equities Trading UP

Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. EKSO shares shot up 91% to $5.92 after the company received FDA clearance to market its EksoNR robotic exoskeleton.

Shares of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. APVO got a boost, shooting 55% to $8.91 as the company said it will receive seven year quarterly royalty payment stream from Pfizer for sales of Rituximab Biosimilar.

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT shares were also up, gaining 41% to $4.511 after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Attwill Medical Solutions Sterilflow, LP.


Equities Trading DOWN

Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. XERS shares tumbled 34% to $3.505 after the company said it has commenced concurrent underwritten public offerings of $20 million in shares of its common stockand $60 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2025.

Shares of Kaleyra, Inc. KLR were down 23% to $4.02 after the company reported pricing of public offering of common stock.

Magenta Therapeutics, Inc. MGTA was down, falling 19% to $7.86. Magenta Therapeutics priced its 7.5 million share public offering of common stock at $8 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $37.36, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,770.50.

Silver traded down 0.4% Thursday to $17.60, while copper fell 0.4% to $2.6405.

Euro zone


European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.3%, French CAC 40 gained 0.4% and UK shares fell 0.2%.


Economics

US durable goods orders climbed 15.8% in May, versus a revised 18.1% decline in April.

The US economy shrank by an annualized rate of 5% during the first quarter.

The US goods deficit increased to $74.34 billion in May versus $70.73 billion in the earlier month. Exports dipped 34.9%, while imports declined 22.9% for May.

US initial jobless claims rose 1.48 million for the latest week, versus analysts’ estimates for a reading of 1.30 million.

Corporate profits in the US dropped 12.4% to $1,672.3 billion in the first quarter.

US wholesale inventories fell 1.2% in May versus a revised 0.2% rise in April.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for June is scheduled for release at 11:00 a.m. ET. The index is expected to rise to -9 in June from a reading of -19 in May.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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

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