Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Hormel Foods Cuts Earnings Outlook

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.18% to 35,377.03 while the NASDAQ rose 0.23% to 15,345.05. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.27% to 4,536.45.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 39,399,080 cases with around 642,090 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,857,930 cases and 439,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,804,210 COVID-19 cases with 581,150 deaths. In total, there were at least 218,516,630 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,544,610 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained 2.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Goodrich Petroleum Corporation GDP, up 13% and Laredo Petroleum, Inc. LPI up 7%.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

Hormel Foods Corporation HRL reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and lowered its full-year earnings forecast.

Hormel Foods posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.39 per share, missing market estimates of $0.40 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $2.86 billion, versus estimates of $2.65 billion.

Hormel Foods said it now expects FY21 earnings of $1.65 to $1.69 per share, down from previous forecast of $1.70 to $1.82 per share. The company, however, raised its sales forecast to $11 billion to $11.2 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Innate Pharma S.A. IPHA shares shot up 49% to $5.29. Innate Pharma said two oral presentations will be highlighted at the ESMO 2021 Virtual Congress.

Shares of Data Storage Corporation DTST got a boost, shooting 26% to $4.9460 after the company reported a collaboration with Precisely.

Scopus BioPharma Inc. SCPS shares were also up, gaining 21% to $6.08. Scopus BioPharma launched Duet Therapeutics that integrates the management and clinical development of the immunotherapy assets of Scopus and Olimmune.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Assembly Biosciences, Inc. ASMB shares tumbled 17% to $3.2276. Assembly Biosciences decided to discontinue the development of ABI-H2158 (2158) following the observation of elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) levels consistent with drug-induced hepatotoxicity (liver damage) in the Phase 2 trial. William Blair downgraded Assembly Biosciences from Outperform to Market Perform.

Shares of Hippo Holdings Inc. HIPO were down 16% to $4.3450.

Phreesia, Inc. PHR was down, falling 11% to $61.88 after the company reported a wider loss for the second quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $69.01, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,817.10.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $24.20 while copper fell 0.1% to $4.2750.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.1% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, French CAC 40 rose 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.02%.

Producer prices in the Eurozone increased 2.3% in July. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain fell 82,583 to 3.3 million in August.

Economics

US-based employers reported 15,723 job cuts in August.

The US trade deficit shrank to $70 billion in July. Exports from the US rose 1.3% to $212.9 billion in July, while imports slipped 0.2% to $282.9 billion.

US initial jobless claims dropped to 340,000 in the week ending August 28th, recording its lowest level since March 2020.

Unit labor costs rose an annualized 1.3% in the second quarter, while nonfarm labor productivity rose by an annualized 2.1%.

US factory orders rose 0.4% 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