Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles Over 200 Points; Aehr Test Systems Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.63% to 34,766.06 while the NASDAQ fell 0.47% to 14,475.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.53% to 4,336.88.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,977,710 cases with around 608,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,026,820 cases and 412,530 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,262,510 COVID-19 cases with 538,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 189,024,600 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,068,770 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 1.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Middlesex Water Company MSEX, up 5%, and California Water Service Group CWT, up 4%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 2.4%.

Top Headline

Kansas City Southern KSU reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Friday.

Kansas City Southern reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $2.19 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $749.50 million, versus expectations of $750.77 million.

 

Equities Trading UP

Byrna Technologies Inc. BYRN shares shot up 13% to $25.52 after the company priced an upsized offering of 2.5 million shares at $21 per share.

Shares of Aehr Test Systems AEHR got a boost, shooting 19% to $3.3550 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and issued strong FY22 sales guidance.

TD Holdings, Inc. GLG shares were also up, gaining 32% to $1.0750 after the company entered a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Guangdong Jinbochuang Special Purpose Vehicle Co. and Hunan Jinmeike New Material Co.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

FibroGen, Inc. FGEN shares tumbled 46% to $13.51 after an FDA Advisory Committee panel voted against approval of the company's New Drug Application roxadustat to treat anemia due to chronic kidney disease in adult patients. B of A Securities downgraded FibroGen from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. NEPT were down 22% to $0.8362 after the company reported Q4 earnings results. Sales of C$6.80 million were down from C$9.53 million in the same period last year.

American Outdoor Brands, Inc. AOUT was down, falling 22% to $27.86 after the company reported downbeat sales for the fourth quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $71.89, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,812.60.

Silver traded down 2.6% Friday to $25.705 while copper fell 0.2% to $4.3165.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.32%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.24% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.57%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.06%, French CAC 40 declined 0.51% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.33%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was confirmed at 1.9% for June. Passenger car registrations in the European Union surged 10.4% annually to 1.05 million units in June. Italy's trade surplus rose to EUR 5.64 billion in May from EUR 5.62 billion in the year-ago month.

Economics

US retail sales rose 0.6% in June, beating analysts’ expectations for a 0.4% decline.

US business inventories rose 0.5% for May.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to a five-month low of 80.8 in July versus 85.5 in the earlier month .

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 2 to 380 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

The Treasury International Capital report for May is scheduled for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here