Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges Over 200 Points; Prometheus Biosciences Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.68% to 32,705.07 while the NASDAQ fell 1.04% to 13,259.09. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.17% to 3,932.46.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,286,720 cases with around 530,820 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 11,308,840 confirmed cases and 158,300 deaths, while Brazil reported over 11,277,710 COVID-19 cases with 272,880 deaths. In total, there were at least 118,671,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,631,750 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Avista Corporation AVA, up 5%, and Artesian Resources Corporation ARTNA, up 4%.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

The Buckle, Inc. BKE reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Friday.

Buckle reported quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, which beat the analysts’ estimates of $1.26 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $318.80 million which met analysts’ expectations. Its same-store sales jumped 18% year-over-year last quarter.

 

Equities Trading UP

NLS Pharmaceutics AG NLSP shares shot up 86% to $5.26 in reaction to a License Agreement with Novartis Pharma AG, a unit of Novartis, wherein NLS secured an exclusive license to Sanorex (mazindol) in the U.S.

Shares of Prometheus Biosciences, Inc. RXDX got a boost, shooting 32% to $25.00 after the company priced its IPO at $19per share.

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. SEEL shares were also up, gaining 60% to $4.87 after BTIG initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $14 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Marker Therapeutics, Inc. MRKR shares tumbled 27% to $1.8450 after the company priced its common stock offering of 28.572 million shares at $1.75 per share.

Shares of Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. IMH were down 23% to $2.29 after the company swung to a loss in the fourth quarter.

Evoke Pharma, Inc. EVOK was down, falling 22% to $2.43 after the company reported Q4 earnings results.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $65.64, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,723.30.

Silver traded down 1% Friday to $25.935 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.1425.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.26%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.46%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.21%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.36% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.03%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone increased 0.8% in January following a revised 0.1% decline in December. Spain’s consumer prices came in unchanged from the prior year for February, while retail sales dipped 9.5% year-over-year in January. Annual inflation rate in Germany increased to 1.3% in February.

Imports to the UK tumbled 18.5% to GBP 43 billion in January, while exports plunged 18.2% to GBP 41.4 billion. Britain's gross domestic product contracted 1.7% during the three months to January, while industrial production declined 1.5% in January.

 

Economics

Producer prices for final demand increased 0.5% in February.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 83 in March from 76.8 in February.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 1 to 309 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Check out the full economic calendar here