Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Philip Morris Posts Mixed Q2 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.32% to 34,409.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.48% to 14,343.85. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.91% to 4,297.39.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,133,830 cases with around 609,260 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,174,320 cases and 414,480 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,391,840 COVID-19 cases with 542,750 deaths. In total, there were at least 191,010,440 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,098,560 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 1.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Silvergate Capital Corporation SI, up 7%, and American River Bankshares AMRB, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. PM reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.

Phillip Morris reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.55 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $7.59 billion, versus expectations of $7.67 billion.

Phillip Morris said it now expects FY21 adjusted EPS of $5.79 to $5.89.

 

Equities Trading UP

NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRBO shares shot up 42% to $4.00.

Shares of Ikena Oncology, Inc. IKNA got a boost, shooting 26% to $14.41.

Immunome, Inc. IMNM shares were also up, gaining 30% to $21.68 after the company reported the pre-clinical testing results of its antibody cocktail. Immunome announced that its three-antibody cocktail, IMM-BCP-01, demonstrated neutralizing activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. The company also said that IMM-BCP-01 showed in-vitro activity via non-neutralizing mechanisms.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Ardelyx, Inc. ARDX shares tumbled 76% to $1.83 after the company announced it received an FDA letter regarding the NDA for tenapanor indicating deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time. Piper Sandler and Wedbush downgraded the stock to Neutral.

Shares of Intrusion Inc. INTZ were down 43% to $4.87 after the company said CEO Jack B. Blount has left the company. The company also reported weak preliminary sales for the second quarter.

Datasea Inc. DTSS was down, falling 28% to $3.19 after the company priced 2.437 million shares at $3.48 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $66.63, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,817.40.

Silver traded up 0.1% Tuesday to $25.175 while copper rose 0.7% to $4.2315.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6%, French CAC 40 surged 0.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.1%.

German producer prices increased 8.5% year-over-year in June compared to a 7.2% rise in the prior month. The Eurozone recorded a current account surplus of EUR 4.3 billion in May versus a EUR 0.7 billion deficit in the year-ago month.

Economics

US housing starts surged 6.3% to an annual rate of 1.643 million in June, while building permits fell 5.1% to an annual rate of 1.598 million.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index jumped 14.5% year-over-year during the first two weeks of July.

Check out the full economic calendar here