Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges 180 Points; Big 5 Sporting Goods Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.53% to 34,313.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.18% to 13,658.26. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.41% to 4,181.69.

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 Peabody Energy Corporation BTU, up 16%, and Oceaneering International, Inc. OII, up 17%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 2%.

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 94% to $9.14 after the company reported the receipt of purchase orders for 5,000 sugarBEAT transmitters and 200,000 sugarBEAT sensors from its U.K. licensee DB Ethitronix.

Shares of Chiasma, Inc. CHMA got a boost, shooting 39% to $3.9550 after Amryt Pharma agreed to acquire the company in an all-stock combination.

Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation BGFV shares were also up, gaining 29% to $24.58 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and also issued strong Q2 EPS guidance.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. COCP shares tumbled 31% to $1.4702 after the company announced a $40 million bought deal offering of common stock.

Shares of Intrusion Inc. INTZ were down 31% to $9.91 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 25% to $19.21 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results. Stifel downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $37 to $20.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $65.57, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,784.20.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $26.535 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.52.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.82%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.56% and the German DAX 30 gained 2.12%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.68%, French CAC 40 rose 1.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 2.03%.

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.

US crude-oil inventories fell 8 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

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

Check out the full economic calendar here