Mid-Afternoon Market Update: US Stocks Mostly Flat; DiaMedica Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.04% to 34,295.41 while the NASDAQ rose 0.13% to 14,518.98. The S&P traded flat at 4,290.65.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,640,570 cases with around 604,110 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 30,316,890 cases and 397,630 deaths, while Brazil reported over 18,448,400 COVID-19 cases with 514,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 181,437,540 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,929,850 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 0.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. DV, up 9%, and SGOCO Group, Ltd. SGOC, up 11%.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

FactSet Research Systems Inc. FDS reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales exceeded views.

FactSet Research reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.72 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $2.74 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $399.60 million, versus analysts’ expectations of $397.92 million.

FactSet said it sees FY21 adjusted EPS of $10.75-$11.15, versus analysts’ estimates of $11.14. The company projects FY21 sales of $1.57 billion-$1.585 billion, versus expectations of $1.58 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. CERE shares shot up 109% to $26.31 after the company announced positive results from its Phase 1b clinical trial of CVL-231 in adult patients with schizophrenia. CVL-231 was generally well-tolerated, and discontinuation rates were similar between CVL-231 and placebo in the six weeks of dosing, at 22% each.

Shares of Marin Software Incorporated MRIN got a boost, shooting 72% to $12.88 after jumping around 97% on Monday. Marin Software, last week, announced it has added the ability to manage Instacart Ads to its flagship MarinOne platform.

Auddia Inc. AUUD shares were also up, gaining 24% to $7.28 after the company announced the release and national launch of its flagship Auddia app ahead of schedule.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Better Choice Company Inc BTTR shares tumbled 39% to $4.49 after the company reported the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 8,000,000 shares at $5.00 per share.

Shares of DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. DMAC were down 33% to $4.80 after the company announced interim results from its Phase 2 REDUX trial of DM199 in chronic kidney disease. DM199, the company noted, is demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements in kidney function in Cohorts 1 and 2, as measured by a simultaneously stabilizing estimated glomerular filtration rate and decreasing urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio.

MediWound Ltd. MDWD was down, falling 26% to $4.15. Vericel’s development partner, MediWound, received a complete response letter from FDA regarding the NexoBrid application seeking approval for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness or full-thickness burns.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $73.07, while gold traded down 1.1% to $1,762.00.

Silver traded down 1.4% Tuesday to $25.845 while copper fell 0.4% to $4.2590.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.31%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.02% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.88%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.21%, French CAC 40 gained 0.14% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.52%.

Spain's consumer price inflation rate fell to 2.6% year-over-year in June from 2.7% a month ago, while retail sales climbed 19.6% from a year ago in May. French consumer confidence rose to 102 in June from 98 in the prior month.

Annual house price growth in the UK increased to 13.4% in June. Consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 0.28 billion in May, while the country’s factories produced 54,962 cars during May compared to 5,314 in the year-ago period.

Economics

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index surged 14.9% in April versus a 13.4% rise in the earlier month.

The FHFA house price index rose 1.8% in April.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index jumped to 127.3 in June from previous reading of 120.

The American Petroleum Institute’s report on crude oil stocks is scheduled for release at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here