Mid-Day Market Update: Alcon Rises Following Q2 Results; NexPoint Real Estate Finance Shares Slide

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.12% to 35,299.82 while the NASDAQ fell 0.01% to 14,654.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10% to 4,443.63.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 37,017,890 cases with around 623,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,285,850 cases and 432,510 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,416,180 COVID-19 cases with 570,590 deaths. In total, there were at least 208,653,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,383,330 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 0.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Beachbody Company, Inc. BODY, up 10% and Uxin Limited UXIN up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Target reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $3.64 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $3.49 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $25.16 billion, versus estimates of $25.08 billion. The company also reported a $15 billion buyback plan.

 

Equities Trading UP

BrainsWay Ltd. BWAY shares shot up 19% to $9.09. The FDA has cleared BrainsWay’s Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS) System to reduce comorbid anxiety symptoms in adult patients with depression, also known as anxious depression.

Shares of Alcon Inc. ALC got a boost, shooting 12% to $79.60 after the company announced upbeat Q2 results and raised its guidance.

Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. VRPX shares were also up, gaining 68% to $25.76. Virpax Pharmaceuticals shares jumped 265% on Tuesday after the company announced that it received a written pre-investigational new drug response from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for MMS019.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc. NREF shares tumbled 10% to $20.75 as the company priced its 2 million share common stock offering at $21 per share.

Shares of Tuya Inc. TUYA were down 18% to $12.37 after the company reported Q2 earnings results. Non-GAAP loss per ADS of $(0.04), while the company reported second-quarter FY21 revenue growth of 118% year-on-year to $84.7 million, beating the analyst consensus of $78 million. Tuya sees Q3 revenue of $83 million - $86 million below the analyst consensus of $109.9 million.

America's Car-Mart, Inc. CRMT was down, falling 12% to $142.33 despite reporting upbeat earnings and sales for the first quarter.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $66.73, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,781.30.

Silver traded down 1.3% Wednesday to $23.36 while copper fell 2.2% to $4.1140.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.19% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.23%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.28%, French CAC 40 fell 0.71% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.52%.

The consumer price inflation rate in the Eurozone was confirmed at 2.2% year-over-year in July, while construction output increased 2.8% year-over-year in June.

The consumer price inflation rate in the UK declined to 2.0% year-over-year in July from 2.5% in the prior month, while output prices rose 4.9% year-over-year in July.

 

Economics

US housing starts dropped 7% to an annual rate of 1.543 million units in July, while building permits increased 2.6% to an annual rate of 1.635 million.

US crude oil inventories dropped 3.234 million barrels in the August 13th week, versus a 0.447 million drop in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Treasury is set to auction 20-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here