Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.16% to 34,272.59 while the NASDAQ rose 0.69% to 13,470.97. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03% to 4,164.63.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,994,750 cases with around 586,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 25,228,990 cases and 278,710 deaths, while Brazil reported over 15,657,390 COVID-19 cases with 436,530 deaths. In total, there were at least 163,675,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,391,530 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer discretionary shares climbed 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aterian, Inc. ATER, up 18%, and Full House Resorts, Inc. FLL, up 11%.
In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.8%.
Top Headline
Walmart Inc WMT reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast .
Walmart reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.69 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.21 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $138.31 billion, exceeding market views of $131.95 billion. Sales at US stores open at least a year, excluding fuel, increased 6% last quarter.
Walmart now projects fiscal 2022 earnings to rise in high single digits, while the company had earlier expected a slight drop in profit.
Equities Trading UP
Agenus Inc. AGEN shares shot up 26% to $4.0923. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Agenus entered into a global exclusive license agreement, under which Bristol Myers will receive an exclusive license to Agenus' AGEN1777 and a second undisclosed target.
Shares of Ultralife Corporation ULBI got a boost, shooting 21% to $10.28 after the company announced it was awarded an IDIQ contract under the US Army's $1.25 billion conformal wearable battery program. The company will receive no more than $168 million over a 3 year base period.
Park City Group, Inc. PCYG shares were also up, gaining 23% to $6.29 after reporting Q3 results.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. TOMZ shares tumbled 15% to $2.5228 after the company swung to a loss in the first quarter.
Shares of Evofem Biosciences, Inc. EVFM were down 37% to $0.8016 after the company reported pricing of $50 million public offering.
Trean Insurance Group, Inc. TIG was down, falling 13% to $14.12 after the company reported an offering of 5 million shares of common stock.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $65.98, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,867.50.
Silver traded up 0.2% Tuesday to $28.315 while copper rose 0.4% to $4.7295.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.26%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.33% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.01%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.18%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.05% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.11%.
The Eurozone economy contracted 0.6% on quarter in January-March, while trade surplus shrank to EUR 15.8 billion in March from EUR 29.9 billion in the year-ago month. Italy's trade surplus shrank to EUR 5.19 billion in March from EUR 5.70 billion.
Labor productivity in the UK increased 0.8% on quarter during the first three months of the year, while unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% in the three months to March.
Economics
Housing starts in the US dipped 9.5% to an annualized rate of 1.569 million in April, while building permits rose 0.3% to an annual rate of 1.76 million.
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 13% year-over-year during the first two weeks of May.
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