Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps Over 500 Points; Rite Aid Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.52% to 35,463.11 while the NASDAQ rose 2.10% to 15,295.45. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.55% to 4,638.74.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 52,059,660 cases with around 828,830 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,752,160 cases and 478,000 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,215,850 COVID-19 cases with 617,900 deaths. In total, there were at least 275,894,860 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,379,670 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 2.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrus Energy Corp. LEU, up 16% and TransGlobe Energy Corporation TGA up 17%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.1%.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

General Mills reported adjusted earnings of $0.99 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $1.05 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $5.02 billion, versus market views of $4.84 billion.

General Mills said it projects FY22 organic net sales to increase 4% to 5%. The company also sees adjusted EPS down 2% to up 1%.

Equities Trading UP

Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc. PPSI shares shot up 15% to $8.12 after the company received an initial order of $12 million from an undisclosed mass merchandiser for its E-Bloc product.

Shares of Rite Aid Corporation RAD got a boost, shooting 16% to $14.44 after the company reported Q3 earnings results and issued FY22 adjusted EPS guidance above estimates. The company also raised FY22 adjusted EBITDA guidance.

Aridis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARDS shares were also up, gaining 25% to $3.18 after the company announced its fully human monoclonal antibody cocktail AR-701 is broadly reactive against the Omicron and other COVID-19 variants, SARS, MERS and the common cold coronaviruses.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc. ALDX shares tumbled 51% to $3.4950 after the company announced the Phase 3 TRANQUILITY trial in its dry eye disease candidate did not meet the primary endpoint of ocular redness.

Shares of DBV Technologies S.A. DBVT were down 41% to $1.6010 after the company announced it decided not to pursue the sequential approach to the development plans for Viaskin Peanut.

CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. CTMX was down, falling 41% to $3.78 after the company announced preliminary results for the ongoing Phase 2 expansion study of CX-2029.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.3% to $71.15, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,787.50.

Silver traded up 0.9% Tuesday to $22.50 while copper rose 1% to $4.3365.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.42%, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 1.76% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.36%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.38%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.38% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1.82%.

The GfK Consumer Confidence indicator for the United Kingdom declined to -15 in December compared to -14 a month ago. Producer prices in Italy climbed 22.1% year-over-year in November, while industrial sales increased 2.8% over a month earlier in October. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator in Germany fell to -6.8 heading into January versus a revised reading of -1.8 in December.

Economics

The current account gap widened to $214.8 billion in the third quarter versus a revised $198.3 billion gap in the previous period.

Check out the full economic calendar here