Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges 150 Points; Alteryx Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.54% to 28,299 while the NASDAQ rose 0.21% to 11,356.01. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.38% to 3,421.68.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,458,980 cases with around 210,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,685,080 confirmed cases and 103,560 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,927,230 COVID-19 cases with 146,670 deaths. In total, there were at least 35,519,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,044,630 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped 1.9% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd. SKYS, up 11%, and Ellomay Capital Ltd. ELLO, up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Paychex reported quarterly earnings of $0.63 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.55 per share. The company posted sales of $932.20 million, surpassing expectations of $895.38 million.

Paychex said it sees FY21 adjusted EPS down 6%-8% year over year.

 

Equities Trading UP

Westwater Resources, Inc. WWR shares shot up 39% to $11.47 after jumping over 87% on Monday. The company holds minerals rights for lithium and uranium deposits and strength appears related to momentum in lithium names amid EV battery interest.

Shares of Alteryx, Inc. AYX got a boost, shooting 28% to $145.92 after the company raised its sales guidance for the third quarter and announced Mark Anderson as new CEO.

TransAct Technologies Incorporated TACT shares were also up, gaining 31% to $6.70 after the company raised its Q3 sales guidance.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Miragen Therapeutics, Inc. MGEN shares tumbled 24% to $0.58 after the company announced that it conducted an internal review of preliminary topline data from its Phase 2 SOLAR clinical trial of cobomarsen in patients with Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma. The press release said preliminary data in 37 patients suggest that cobomarsen lacks a compelling result for the study's primary endpoint.

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd. AXGT were down 22% to $4.3750. Axovant reported positive six-month follow-up data from second cohort of SUNRISE-PD Phase 2 trial of AXO-Lenti-PD gene therapy.

Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. CRBP was down, falling 37% to $1.1850 after the company announced its Phase 2b study of Lenabasum for treatment of cystic fibrosis did not meet the primary endpoint.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.3% to $40.53, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,906.90.

Silver traded down 2.3% Tuesday to $23.990 while copper rose 0.1% to $2.9670.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today after recording gains in the previous session. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.07%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.44%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.85%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.48%, French CAC 40 rose 0.61% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.12%.

German IHS Markit construction PMI declined to 45.5 in September versus a reading of 48 in August, while French construction PMI increased to 47.3 from prior month’s reading of 46.

Economics

The US trade gap widened to $67.1 billion in August versus a revised $63.4 billion in July.

US job openings fell to 6.493 million in August from prior reading of 6.618 million, the Labor Department reported.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.