Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Rises Over 1%; Immuron Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.28% to 26596.89 while the NASDAQ rose 1.1% to 10,618.66. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23% to 3,232.17.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 3,773,260 cases with around 140,530 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,098,380 COVID-19 cases with 79,480 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,118,200 confirmed cases and 27,490 deaths. In total, there were at least 14,508,890 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 606,200 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 1.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Molecular Data Inc. MKD, up 7%, and Liquidity Services, Inc. LQDT, up 14%.

In trading on Monday, industrial shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company HAL reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Halliburton posted quarterly earnings of $0.05 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of a loss of $0.11 per share. The company reported sales of $3.20 billion, missing expectations of $3.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Immuron Limited IMRN shares shot up 118% to $13.88 after guidance from the FDA cleared the way for two clinical studies in 2021 and will help the company with development of an investigational new drug application.

Shares of DPW Holdings, Inc. DPW got a boost, shooting 97% to $4.06 after the company announced it has released a product line of electric vehicle charges.

Just Energy Group Inc. JE shares were also up, gaining 102% to $0.717 after the company received an interim order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which grants a stay of proceedings for the company's recapitalization plan.

Equities Trading DOWN

PetMed Express, Inc. PETS shares tumbled 16% to $34.07 after reporting earnings for the first quarter.

Shares of Nikola Corporation NKLA were down 19% to $39.46 after the company disclosed a common stock offering.

Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. HHT was down, falling 19% to $1.4052 after the company announced a $4.2 million common stock offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $40.52, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,820.30.

Silver traded up 2.5% Monday to $20.265, while copper rose 1.2% to $2.938.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.77%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.51%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.06%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.85%, French CAC 40 rose 0.41% and UK shares fell 0.32%.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.