Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; RPM International Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.39% to 26572.78 while the NASDAQ rose 1.24% to 10,491.67. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.58% to 3,234.33.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,234,140 cases with around 146,930 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,419,090 COVID-19 cases with 87,000 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,435,610 confirmed cases and 32,770 deaths. In total, there were at least 16,264,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 648,960 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares rose 1.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP, up 21%, and Platinum Group Metals Ltd. PLG, up 17%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

RPM International Inc. RPM reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

RPM International posted quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.01 per share. The company reported sales of $1.46 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.40 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Sogou Inc. SOGO shares shot up 47% to $8.43 after the company received a preliminary non-binding acquisition offer from Tencent at $9 per share in cash.

Shares of Wilhelmina International, Inc. WHLM got a boost, shooting 109% to $7.74 after gaining around 6% on Friday.

Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT shares were also up, gaining 128% to $3.43 following news the company launched its DuraSled barcode scanner sled for mobile device protector, XCover Pro.

Equities Trading DOWN

WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. WIMI shares tumbled 30% to $7.89 after the company priced its 7.56 million ADS offering at $8.18 per ADS.

Shares of WISeKey International Holding AG WKEY were down 19% to $7.68 after jumping 34% on Friday.

Sequential Brands Group, Inc. SQBG was down, falling 17% to $5.74.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $41.40, while gold traded up 2.2% to $1,938.70.

Silver traded up 7.4% Monday to $24.545, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.898.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.3%, French CAC 40 declined 0.2% and UK shares fell 0.2%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders climbed 7.3% in June after rising 15.1% in May.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for July is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 6-month bills and 2-year notes at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 3-month bills and 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.