Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; US Economy Adds 194,000 Jobs In September

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.12% to 34,796.95 while the NASDAQ rose 0.09% to 14,667.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16% to 4,406.93.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 44,160,450 cases with around 710,180 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,915,560 cases and 450,120 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,532,550 COVID-19 cases with 599,810 deaths. In total, there were at least 236,882,420 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,836,830 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 2.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Camber Energy, Inc. CEI, up 27% and PEDEVCO Corp. PED up 13%.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

The US economy added 194,000 jobs in September, the lowest so far this year. Analysts, meanwhile, were expecting for a 500,000 gain. The US unemployment rate, however, declined to 4.8% in September from 5.2%.

 

Equities Trading UP

ChemoCentryx, Inc. CCXI shares shot up 67% to $32.68. The FDA approved ChemoCentryx’s Tavneos (avacopan) as an adjunctive treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis (ANCA-associated vasculitis or ANCA vasculitis).

Shares of Renren Inc. RENN got a boost, shooting 39% to $22.99. Renren, last month, named Chris Palmer as its Chief Financial Officer.

ReShape Lifesciences Inc. RSLS shares were also up, gaining 19% to $2.95. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Reshape Lifesciences with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $8.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. ALLO shares tumbled 42% to $14.09 after the company reported the FDA placed a hold on the company's AlloCAR T clinical trials.

Shares of Cellectis S.A. CLLS were down 20% to $9.59. Baird downgraded Cellectis from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $39 to $10.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 12% to $6.93.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $79.18, while gold traded up 1% to $1,776.30.

Silver traded up 1.8% Friday to $23.070 while copper rose 0.5% to $4.2640.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.03%, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.01% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.3%.

German current account surplus shrank to EUR 11.8 billion in August from EUR 16.7 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus narrowed to €10.7 billion from €11.9 billion.

Economics

The US economy added 194,000 jobs in September, the lowest so far this year. Analysts, meanwhile, were expecting for a 500,000 gain. The US unemployment rate, however, declined to 4.8% in September from 5.2%.

US wholesale inventories increased 1.2% to $731.1 billion in August.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here