Mid-Day Market Update: PaySign Falls After Q3 Earnings; VAALCO Energy Shares Jump

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.44% to 29,914.90 while the NASDAQ rose 0.02% to 11,901.30. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22% to 3,617.56.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 11,360,120 cases with around 248,700 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,912,900 confirmed cases and 130,990 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,911,750 COVID-19 cases with 166,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 55,714,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,339,820 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LendingClub Corporation LC, up 20%, and Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corporation. WMC, up 6%.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Target posted quarterly earnings of $2.79 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.60 per share. The company posted quarterly sales of $22.60 billion, surpassing expectations of $20.93 billion.

Target’s comparable sales climbed 20.7% during the quarter, while digital comparable sales jumped 155%.

 

Equities Trading UP

Kodiak Sciences Inc. KOD shares shot up 21% to $138.39. The company recently priced its $560.9 million common stock offering.

Shares of Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT got a boost, shooting 19% to $2.79 as the company disclosed that the SocketScan S550 Contactless Membership Card Reader has achieved the Google Wallet Certification.

VAALCO Energy, Inc. EGY shares were also up, gaining 18% to $1.20 as the company reported transformational acquisition of additional working interest at Etame Marin Block Offshore Gabon from Sasol for $50 million.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

PaySign, Inc. PAYS shares tumbled 34% to $4.07 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 earnings. DA Davidson downgraded PaySign from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $9 to $6.

Shares of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. ONCT were down 29% to $2.92 after the company announced an increase in its previously announced bought deal offering to 7.25 million shares at $3.10 per share.

BeyondSpring Inc. BYSI was down, falling 10% to $12.79 after announcing a common stock offering of $75 million.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $41.79, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,880.10.

Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $24.685 while copper rose 0.3% to $3.2080.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.46%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.49%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.84%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.47%, French CAC 40 rose 0.51% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.39%.

Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 0.7% in October from 0.5% in September, while producer prices fell 1.4% year-over-year in October.

Economics

Housing starts rose 4.9% to an annual rate of 1.53 million units in October, while building permits were unchanged at 1.545 million.

The Treasury is set to auction 20-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 1:20 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.