Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Rises Over 100 Points; Biomerica Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.49% to 34,346.53 while the NASDAQ rose 0.75% to 14,556.92. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.18% to 4,358.52.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 43,459,970 cases with around 697,840 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,766,700 cases and 448,330 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,427,070 COVID-19 cases with 596,740 deaths. In total, there were at least 233,799,140 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,784,200 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 3.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PEDEVCO Corp. PED, up 33% and Nordic American Tankers Limited NAT up 13%.

In trading on Friday, health care shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI rose to 61.1 in September, versus analysts’ estimates of 59.6.

 

Equities Trading UP

Biomerica, Inc. BMRA shares shot up 36% to $6.14. Biomerica entered into a Supplier Agreement with Walmart to sell its EZ Detect colorectal disease screening test within the Walmart retail system.

Shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AVIR got a boost, shooting 20% to $42.03 following data from Merck & Co's investigational oral antiviral molnupiravir, which boosted sentiment for Atea Pharmaceutical's AT-527, an oral antiviral drug candidate.

SunPower Corporation SPWR shares were also up, gaining 11% to $25.20. SunPower will replace Cimarex Energy in the S&P MidCap 400 effective on Tuesday, October 5.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRBO shares tumbled 32% to $2.54 after the company announced a 4.3 million share offering at $3.25 per share.

Shares of Omeros Corporation OMER were down 38% to $8.56 after the company announced the FDA notified it that they identified deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time.

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. VIR was down, falling 21% to $34.19 in reaction to promising data from competitor Merck's COVID-19 antiviral candidate

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $75.76, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,759.70.

Silver traded up 2.4% Friday to $22.575 while copper rose 2.8% to $4.2015.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.42%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.04% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.68%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.84%, French CAC 40 dropped 0.04% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.27%.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI for France dropped to 55 in September from 57.5 in the previous month, while Spain manufacturing PMI slipped to 58.1 in September from 59.5 in August.

Germany's retail sales increased 1.1% in August, while manufacturing PMI fell to 58.4 in September from a preliminary level of 58.5.

Economics

Personal spending increased 0.8% month-over-month in August, while personal income rose 0.2%.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 60.7 in September from a preliminary reading of 60.5.

The ISM manufacturing PMI rose to 61.1 in September, versus analysts’ estimates of 59.6.

Construction spending was virtually unchanged at an annual rate of $1.584 trillion in August.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised higher to 72.8 in September from a preliminary level of 71.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 7 to 428 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Check out the full economic calendar here