Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Down; AT&T, Discovery To Merge Media Assets

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.24% to 34,300.61 while the NASDAQ fell 0.48% to 13,366.03. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.23% to 4,164.05.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,941,050 cases with around 585,970 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 24,965,460 cases and 274,390 deaths, while Brazil reported over 15,627,240 COVID-19 cases with 435,750 deaths. In total, there were at least 163,112,780 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,380,400 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.7% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Peabody Energy Corporation BTU, up 20%, and CONSOL Energy Inc. CEIX, up 7%.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

Discovery, Inc. DISCA and AT&T Inc. T announced they're in talks to merge their media assets.

AT&T owns CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT and the Warner Bros. studio. Discovery owns networks including HGTV, Food Network, TLC and Animal Planet.

Equities Trading UP

Digital Brands Group, Inc. DBGI shares shot up 31% to $4.46. Digital Brands, on Friday, priced its IPO at $4.15 per share.

Shares of Peabody Energy Corporation BTU got a boost, shooting 18% to $7.66.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. APLS shares were also up, gaining 17% to $51.79 after the FDA approved the company’s Empaveli (pegcetacoplan) for the treatment of adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Shineco, Inc. TYHT shares tumbled 21% to $14.75 after gaining 21% on Friday.

Shares of Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. SEEL were down 17% to $4.30 after the company announced data from Part 1, the open-label cohort, of its Proof-of-Concept study of SLS-002 for acute suicidal ideation and behavior in patients with Major Depressive Disorder.

Americas Gold and Silver Corporation USAS was down, falling 16% to $1.89 after the company reported a wider Q1 loss.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $65.20, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,848.40.

Silver traded up 1.3% Monday to $27.71 while copper rose 0.3% to $4.6705.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.4%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6%, French CAC 40 fell 0.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.1%.

Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 411.9 million in March, compared to EUR 2.0 billion in the year-ago month, while annual inflation rate in Italy rose to 1.1% in April from 0.8%.

Economics

The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index slipped to 24.3 in May from 26.3 in April.

The NAHB housing market index stood at 83 in May.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for May is scheduled for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here