Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Eastman Kodak Shares Jump

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.36% to 26489.37 while the NASDAQ fell 0.48% to 10486.10. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.11% to 3,235.94.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,294,770 cases with around 148,050 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,442,370 COVID-19 cases with 87,610 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,480,070 confirmed cases and 33,400 deaths. In total, there were at least 16,495,300 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 654,320 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Spire Inc. SR, up 4%, and Edison International EIX, up 5%.

In trading on Tuesday, materials shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

Mcdonald's Corp MCD reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales exceed views.

McDonald's posted quarterly earnings of $0.66 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.74 per share. The company reported sales of $3.76 billion, exceeding expectations of $3.68 billion.

McDonald's global comparable sales declined 23.9% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Eastman Kodak Company KODK shares shot up 238% to $8.85 following a Wall Street Journal report suggesting the company has landed a $765 million U.S. loan under the Defense Production Act to manufacture drugs to treat a variety of conditions.

Shares of Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN got a boost, shooting 37% to $6.40 after the company announced it has reopened 674 out of 702 boutiques and has repaid $2 million of outstanding borrowings. The company also reported its Q1 earnings results and issued Q2 guidance.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc SPPI shares were also up, gaining 21% to $3.9198 after the company announced that results in HER2 Exon20 Insertion Mutations from Cohort 2 of the Poziotinib ZENITH20 trial met the pre-specified primary endpoint.

Equities Trading DOWN

MediciNova, Inc. MNOV shares tumbled 34% to $7.28. MediciNova shares surged 95% on Monday after the company announced an agreement with BioComoor for the joint development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Shares of Nemaura Medical Inc. NMRD were down 27% to $6.75 as the company said it intends to offer for sale shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering.

Wilhelmina International, Inc. WHLM was down, falling 17% to $6.50 after jumping more than 112% on Monday.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $41.15, while gold traded up 0.8% to $1,946.30.

Silver traded up 0.7% Tuesday to $24.67, while copper rose 0.7% to $2.918.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.42%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.06%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.59%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 0.03%, French CAC 40 declined 0.22% and UK shares rose 0.4%.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 3.7% year-over-year in May.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index declined to 92.6 in July, versus a revised reading of 98.3 in June.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.