Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Drops 50 Points; Ocugen Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.92% to 34,187.80 while the NASDAQ fell 0.37% to 13,910.67. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.36% to 4,196.13.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,421,920 cases with around 577,040 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 19,925,510 cases and 218,950 deaths, while Brazil reported over 14,754,910 COVID-19 cases with 407,630 deaths. In total, there were at least 152,903,900 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,203,490 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 2.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NexGen Energy Ltd. NXE, up 10%, and Peabody Energy Corporation BTU, up 14%.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. EL reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views.

Estee Lauder reported quarterly earnings of $1.62 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.31 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $3.86 billion, missing expectations of $3.93 billion.

Estee Lauder said it sees FY21 EPS growth of 45%-47%, and sales growth of 11%-12%.

Equities Trading UP

Ocugen, Inc. OCGN shares shot up 17% to $14.85 after the company announced that in a new study, COVAXIN demonstrated potential effectiveness against the Brazil variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.128.2.

Shares of Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, Inc. BTX got a boost, shooting 28% to $63.62 as the stock continued to increase in popularity on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets. On Friday, Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics filed a Form 8-K showing that it entered into a purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital on Apr. 26 in which the company can sell up to $20 million of common shares to the Chicago-based investment group and asset management firm. Additionally, Nicholas J Singer disclosed that he took a 9%-plus stake in the company in a 13G filing on Friday.

Milestone Scientific Inc. MLSS shares were also up, gaining 15% to $2.90. Milestone Scientific reported preliminary Q1 sales of $2.9 million up from $1.8 million.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT shares tumbled 16% to $9.07 after the company reported a wider Q1 loss.

Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX were down 13% to $206.79 despite the company initiating a pediatric expansion for its COVID-19 vaccine trial. Weakness is potentially due to profit taking after the stock surged last week following multiple positive catalysts.

AVROBIO, Inc. AVRO was down, falling 12% to $10.25 after the company provided an update on its regulatory plans for AVR-RD-01, its lentiviral gene therapy for Fabry disease, currently in FAB-GT Phase 2 trial. SVB Leerink analyst Mani Foroohar maintained Avrobio with a Market Perform and lowered the price target from $18 to $10.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $64.62, while gold traded up 1.6% to $1,795.20.

Silver traded up 4.5% Monday to $27.04 while copper rose 1.1% to $4.5190.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.52%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.9% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.54%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.46% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 1.15%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 62.9 in April from March's final level of 62.5. Germany’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 66.2 in April from a record high level of 66.6 in March, while French manufacturing PMI declined to 58.9 in April from 59.3 in March. Spain’s manufacturing PMI gained to 57.7 in April, compared to 56.9 in the earlier month.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 60.5 in April from a preliminary reading of 60.6.

The ISM manufacturing PMI declined to 60.7 in April from 64.7 in March.

Construction spending rose 0.2% to an annual rate of $1.51 trillion in March.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 2:10 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here