Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Vera Bradley Drops Following Downbeat Q2 Results; PVH Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.06% to 35,337.79 while the NASDAQ rose 0.53% to 15,339.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16% to 4,530.08.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 39,200,750 cases with around 640,120 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,810,840 cases and 439,020 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,776,870 COVID-19 cases with 580,410 deaths. In total, there were at least 217,776,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,520,500 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares gained 1.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust PEI, up 12% and KE Holdings Inc. BEKE up 13%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

Campbell Soup Company CPB reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Campbell Soup posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.55 per share, beating market estimates of $0.47 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.87 billion, versus estimates of $1.81 billion.

Campbell Soup said it expects FY22 earnings of $2.75 to $2.85 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $2.87 per share. The company also projects sales to decrease between 0% and 2%.

 

Equities Trading UP

Focus Universal Inc. FCUV shares shot up 302% to $20.50. The stock started trading on Nasdaq Capital Market yesterday.

Shares of Ambarella, Inc. AMBA got a boost, shooting 26% to $130.86 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued Q3 sales guidance above estimates.

PVH Corp. PVH shares were also up, gaining 15% to $120.15 as the company reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 46% year-on-year, to $2.31 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $2.14 billion.
Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Vera Bradley, Inc. VRA shares tumbled 14% to $9.83 after the company posted downbeat quarterly results. Vera Bradley said it continued to experience supply chain challenges and significantly increased freight and tariff expenses.

Shares of Support.com, Inc. SPRT were down 23% to $24.11 on continued volatility as the stock has been circulated as a short squeeze name.

Dycom Industries, Inc. DY was down, falling 6% to $70.71 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $68.44, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,814.80.

Silver traded up 0.7% Wednesday to $24.175 while copper fell 2.2% to $4.2780.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.48%, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 1.64% and the German DAX 30 slipped 0.07%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 surged 0.42%, French CAC 40 jumped 1.18% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.66%.

The unemployment rate in the Eurozone declined to 7.6% in July from 7.8% in June, while manufacturing PMI dropped to 61.4 in August from July's final reading of 62.8. UK’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 60.3 in August 2021 from July's final reading of 60.4.

The unemployment rate in Italy dropped to 9.3% in July from a revised 9.4% in June. German manufacturing PMI slipped to 62.6 in August from a preliminary level of 62.7, while retail sales dropped 5.1% in July. The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI for Spain rose to 59.5 in August from 59.0 in July.

Economics

Private businesses in the US hired 374,000 workers in August, the ADP said.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI declined to 61.1 in August versus a preliminary reading of 61.2.

The ISM manufacturing PMI rose to 59.9 in August from 59.5 in July.

US construction spending rose 0.3% for July.

US crude oil inventories dropped 7.169 million barrels in the week ending August 27th, the Energy Information Administration said.

Check out the full economic calendar here