Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Estée Lauder Sales Top Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.06% to 34,940.82 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 14,532.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03% to 4,401.45.

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


Utilities shares rose 0.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Huaneng Power International, Inc. HNP, up 8% and Entergy Corporation ETR up 2%.


In trading on Thursday, energy fell 2.6%.


Top Headline

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. EL reported better-than-expected sales for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Estee Lauder reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.78 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $0.50 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $3.94 billion, versus estimates of $3.75 billion.

Estee Lauder said it sees Q1 earnings of $1.55-$1.65 and FY22 earnings of $7.23 to $7.38 per share. The company also projects FY22 sales growth of 13%-16%

 


Equities Trading UP


Sonoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNOA shares shot up 103% to $11.00 in reaction to the launch of two new dental products. OroGenix Oral Hygiene Rinse is Sonoma's second dental product in the U.S. and was developed with its partner Gabriel Science LLC. Additionally, Sonoma and its partner, Medical Systems Solutions, have launched Microdacyn Oral Care for professional and consumer use in Switzerland.


Shares of DLocal Limited DLO got a boost, shooting 36% to $67.10 after the company reported a sharp rise in quarterly sales. The company’s total payment volume came in at $1.5 billion, up 319% year over year.


Ensysce Biosciences, Inc. ENSC shares were also up, gaining 28% to $4.0190. Ensysce Biosciences recently reported a Q2 net loss of $1 million.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc. PMCB shares tumbled 60% to $3.96 after the company announced a $70 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Shares of Ontrak, Inc. OTRK were down 31% to $14.43. The company, earlier during the month, reported upbeat quarterly results.

The OLB Group, Inc. OLB was down, falling 30% to $3.81 after the company reported a $6.1 million registered direct offering.

 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 3.7% to $3.9765, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,791.20.


Silver traded down 0.4% Thursday to $23.335 while copper fell 3.5% to $3.9765.


Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.2% and the German DAX 30 dipped 1.9%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.1%, French CAC 40 tumbled 2.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB declined 1.9%.

The Eurozone’s current account surplus increased to EUR 24.0 billion in June compared to EUR 18.4 billion in the year-ago month. Spain's trade balance swung to a deficit of EUR 0.98 billion in June versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 1.48 billion.


Economics


US initial jobless claims fell to 348 thousand in the week ending August 14th.


The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dropped to 19.4 in August.


The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.9% for July.


The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.


The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

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