Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; General Motors Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.21% to 34,060.47 while the NASDAQ rose 0.07% to 13,643.47. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02% to 4,163.71.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,513,400 cases with around 578,500 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 20,664,970 cases and 226,180 deaths, while Brazil reported over 14,856,880 COVID-19 cases with 411,580 deaths. In total, there were at least 154,404,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,229,350 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 2.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centennial Resource Development, Inc. CDEV, up 12%, and NexGen Energy Ltd. NXE, up 13%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company PFE reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

General Motors reported quarterly earnings of $2.25 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.04 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $32.50 billion, versus expectations of $32.67 billion.

General Motors said it sees FY21 adjusted earnings of $4.50-$5.25 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.29 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Nemaura Medical Inc. NMRD shares shot up 51% to $7.15 after the company reported an order for 200,000 sugarBEAT sensors.

Shares of Chiasma, Inc. CHMA got a boost, shooting 50% to $4.27 after Amryt Pharma agreed to acquire the company in an all-stock combination.

Athenex, Inc. ATNX shares were also up, gaining 39% to $5.16 after the company reported its acquired Kuur Therapeutics Inc, a portfolio company of IP Group plc, for $70 million upfront.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. COCP shares tumbled 31% to $1.475 after the company announced a $40 million bought deal offering of common stock.

Shares of Intrusion Inc. INTZ were down 28% to $10.30 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results. B. Riley FBR downgraded Intrusion from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $30 to $13.5.

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR was down, falling 24% to $19.48 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $66.37, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,777.80.

Silver traded down 0.5% Wednesday to $26.415 while copper rose 0.6% to $4.5465.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.9% and the German DAX 30 gaind 1.3%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.1%, French CAC 40 rose 0.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1.1%.

Producer prices in the Eurozone increased 1.1% in March, following a 0.5% rise in the earlier month. The IHS Markit Eurozone composite PMI edged higher to 53.8 in April from a preliminary reading of 53.7.

French composite PMI was revised lower to 51.6 in April from a preliminary reading of 51.7, while German composite PMI slipped to 55.8 in April from a preliminary level of 56.

Economics

Private businesses in the US hired 742,000 workers in April versus a revised 565,000 increase in March.

The IHS Markit services PMI increased to 64.7 in April versus a preliminary estimate of 63.1.

The ISM non-manufacturing PMI fell to 62.7 in April from 63.7 in the previous month.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Master is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here