Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 70 Points; IDEAYA Biosciences Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 34,647.52 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 14,664.04. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33% to 4,358.01.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,748,690 cases with around 605,930 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 30,663,660 cases and 404,210 deaths, while Brazil reported over 18,855,010 COVID-19 cases with 526,890 deaths. In total, there were at least 184,692,740 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,995,310 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Warrior Met Coal, Inc. HCC, up 8%, and Kraton Corporation KRA, up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.7%.

Top Headline

MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc MSM reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.

MSC Industrial Direct reported quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.37 per share. The company’s sales came in at $866.30 million, versus expectations of $847.22 million.

 

Equities Trading UP

Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. OPNT shares shot up 38% to $18.25 after the company disclosed top-line results from its confirmatory pharmacokinetic study for OPNT003, nasal nalmefene, for opioid overdose.

Shares of Daré Bioscience, Inc. DARE got a boost, shooting 34% to $2.03 on a report suggesting the company entered into an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and were awarded a new grant of up to $48.95 million to support development of DARE-LARC1.

OncoSec Medical Incorporated ONCS shares were also up, gaining 30% to $3.62 after the company said it will evaluate its DNA-plasmid interleukin-12 (IL-12) TAVO (tavokinogene telseplasmid) with Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in KEYNOTE-C87 Phase 3 trial..

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Bridgeline Digital, Inc. BLIN shares tumbled 27% to $8.88. Bridgeline Digital reported that a global footwear brand's Indonesian subsidiary chose the company’s Celebros search for online experience.

Shares of BSQUARE Corporation BSQR were down 28% to $5.11. On July 6, 2021, software solutions provider BSQUARE entered into a Side Letter with B. Riley Securities, Inc to sell shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $50 million under the company’s Form S-3 filed on March 18.

IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. IDYA was down, falling 23% to $17.46 after the company offered up to $80 million shares in an underwritten public offering. Underwriters have an option to purchase up to $12 million of shares

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2% to $71.94, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,801.90.

Silver traded down 0.2% Wednesday to $26.125 while copper rose 1.6% to $4.3170.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.78%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.17%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.71%, French CAC 40 rose 0.31% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.23%.

The European Commission increased its Eurozone GDP projections for 2021 and 2022. House prices in the UK surged 8.8% year-over-year in June following a revised 9.6% increase in the previous month. German industrial output unexpectedly fell 0.3% in May.

France recorded a trade deficit of EUR 6.80 billion for May, while current account deficit increased to EUR 2.3 billion in May from a revised level of EUR 2.0 billion in the prior month.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index surged 19.4% year-over-year during the week ended July 3.

The number of job openings climbed to a fresh record high of 9.209 million in May from a revised reading of 9.193 million in April.

The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of its latest meeting.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here