Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; AZZ Reports Upbeat Q1 Results

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.10% to 34,799.54 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 14,651.61. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.84% to 4,357.03.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,792,440 cases with around 606,480 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 30,752,950 cases and 405,930 deaths, while Brazil reported over 18,962,760 COVID-19 cases with 530,170 deaths. In total, there were at least 185,650,020 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,012,450 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Financial shares rose by 2.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Bancorp, Inc. TBBK, up 6%, and Vericity, Inc. VERY, up 6%.


In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.6%.


Top Headline

AZZ Inc AZZ reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised profit forecast for FY22.

AZZ reported quarterly earnings of $0.88 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.62 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $229.80 million, versus expectations of $223.69 million.

AZZ raised its FY22 EPS guidance from $2.45-$2.95 to $2.65-$3.05. The company said it now expects FY22 sales of $855 million to $935 million, versus earlier forecast of $835 million to $935 million.

 

Equities Trading UP


Carver Bancorp, Inc. CARV shares shot up 61% to $35.33 as traders play the stock as a high-short interest name.


Shares of Stamps.com Inc. STMP got a boost, shooting 64% to $323.69. Software investment firm Thoma Bravo inked an agreement to acquire e-commerce shipping solutions provider Stamps.com in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.6 billion.


Galectin Therapeutics Inc. GALT shares were also up, gaining 40% to $3.8639 after the company announced top-line clinical data from the extension cohort of Phase 1b trial of Belapectin in combination with Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with metastatic melanoma and head & neck cancer.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Nova LifeStyle, Inc. NVFY shares tumbled 33% to $4.37 after jumping over 71% on Thursday.

Shares of Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc. SGTX were down 30% to $6.48. The FDA has instituted a clinical hold on Sigilon Therapeutics Phase 1/2 study of SIG-001 in patients with severe or moderately severe hemophilia A.

Moving iMage Technologies, Inc. MITQ was down, falling 29% to $17.10 after jumping 700% on Thursday. Moving iMage Technologies priced its initial public offering of 4.2 million common shares at $3 per share.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $73.74, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,803.90.


Silver traded up 0.5% Friday to $26.125 while copper rose 1.9% to $4.3435.


Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.8% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.9%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.8%, French CAC 40 jumped 1.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1.4%.

German current account surplus increased to EUR 13.1 billion in May from EUR 7.1 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus widened to EUR 12.3 billion from EUR 7 billion.


Economics


US wholesale inventories rose 1.3% in May versus a revised 1.1% increase in April.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!