Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 2.5%; Harmonic Shares Climb On Upbeat Results

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.41% to 26773.75 while the NASDAQ rose 0.20% to 10924.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20% to 3,301.10.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,718,240 cases with around 155,470 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,750,310 COVID-19 cases with 94,660 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,855,740 confirmed cases and 38,930 deaths. In total, there were at least 18,315,280 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 694,710 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained 2.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Fortress Energy LLC NFE, up 17%, and Kosmos Energy Ltd. KOS, up 14%.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares tumbled by 0.3%.

Top Headline

Emerson Electric Co. TSN reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

The company reported quarterly earnings of $0.80 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.60 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $3.90 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.85 billion.

Emerson Electric projects FY20 sales growth of (10%)-(9%). The company said it expects FY20 earnings of $3.20 to $3.35 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $3.03 per share.

Equities Trading UP

SilverSun Technologies, Inc. SSNT shares shot up 132% to $6.37 after the company announced it will acquire Prairie Technology Solutions Group.

Shares of Harmonic Inc. HLIT got a boost, shooting 23% to $6.89 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

Alterity Therapeutics Limited ATHE shares were also up, gaining 152% to $3.40 after the company said new data from an experiment testingits lead candidate ATH434 in an animal model of Multiple System Atrophy independently confirmed and extended previous findings demonstrating that ATH434 reduces α-synuclein pathology, preserves neuronsand improves motor performance.

Equities Trading DOWN

DBV Technologies S.A. DBVT shares tumbled 41% to $2.40 after the company said the FDA has issued a Complete Response Letter regarding its BLA for investigational Viaskin Peanut, a non-invasive, once-daily epicutaneous patch to treat peanut allergies in children ages 4-11. In the letter, the FDA identified concerns regarding the impact of patch-site adhesion on efficacy and indicated the need for patch modifications and subsequently a new human factor study, the company said.

Shares of Huttig Building Products, Inc. HBP were down 26% to $1.73 after the company reported downbeat Q2 sales.

Senmiao Technology Limited AIHS was down, falling 36% to $0.5210 after the company reported a proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.5% to $42.03, while gold traded up 1.8% to $2,022.50.

Silver traded up 6.3% Tuesday to $25.955, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.8965.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.07%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.67%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.21%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.36%, French CAC 40 rose 0.28% and UK shares rose 0.05%.

Economics

U.S. factory orders increased 6.2% in June, after a revised 7.7% surge in the prior month.