Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Big Lots Posts Upbeat Q1 Profit

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 34,547.73 while the NASDAQ rose 0.44% to 13,796.49. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.21% to 4,209.59.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,218,600 cases with around 593,290 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 27,555,450 cases and 318,890 deaths, while Brazil reported over 16,342,160 COVID-19 cases with 456,670 deaths. In total, there were at least 169,021,400 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,512,710 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Freeline Therapeutics Holdings plc FRLN, up 11%, and Iterum Therapeutics plc ITRM, up 18%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

Big Lots posted quarterly earnings of $2.62 per share, exceeding market estimates of $1.19 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.63 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.53 billion. The company’s comparable sales surged 11.3% year over year.

Big Lots said it sees Q2 earnings of $1 to $1.15 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.04 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Vertex Energy, Inc. VTNR shares shot up 66% to $6.58 on continued momentum after the company announced it will acquire an Alabama refinery and related logistics assets for $75 million. HC Wainwright maintained a Buy rating on the stock and raised its price target from $4 to $25.

Shares of Organovo Holdings, Inc. ONVO got a boost, shooting 35% to $10.54 following recent Seeking Alpha article 'Organovo: New Strategy Targeting Internal Pipeline Development With Customized 3D Human Tissues Offers Upside.'

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC shares were also up, gaining 22% to $32.16 on continued momentum amid renewed retail investor interest in the stock.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Orbsat Corp. OSAT shares tumbled 74% to $4.15 after the company reported pricing of upsized $14.4 million underwritten public offering and uplisting to Nasdaq.

Shares of 1847 Goedeker Inc. GOED were down 70% to $1.83 after the company priced its 91 million unit offering at $2.25 per unit.

ZIVO Bioscience, Inc. ZIVO was down, falling 56% to $4.24 after the company reported pricing of upsized $13.8 million public offering and uplisting to Nasdaq.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $67.23, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,895.00.

Silver traded down 0.7% Friday to $27.745 while copper fell 1% to $4.6170.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 rose 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.2%.

French industrial producer prices dropped 0.3% in April following a 1% rise in March, while gross domestic product contracted by 0.1% on quarter during the first three months of the year. France's consumer price inflation increased to 1.4% year-over-year in May. Import prices in Germany surged 10.3% year-over-year in April.

Economics

US goods deficit narrowed to $85.23 billion in April from a revised level of $91.98 billion in March.

Personal spending increased 0.5% in April versus a revised 4.7% gain in March, while personal income dropped 13.1% in April.

Wholesale inventories rose 0.8% to $698.3 billion in April.

The Chicago PMI climbed to 75.2 in May from 72.1 in March.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 82.9 in May from an initial estimate of 82.8.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for April will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here