Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 5%; SmileDirectClub Shares Jump

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 3.28% to 21,813.29 while the NASDAQ fell 2.93% to 7,569.42. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.91% to 2,553.41.

The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed those in China and Italy. U.S. reported a total of 85,900 coronavirus cases with around 1,290 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 80,500 confirmed cases and 8,200 deaths, while Spain confirmed a total of over 57,700 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported 55 new cases on Thursday. In total, there are at least 542,700 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 24,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rite Aid Corporation RAD, up 8%, and Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. BIOX, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares dipped 4.5%.

Top Headline

GameStop Corp. GME reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views. The company also suspended its annual guidance on Thursday.

GameStop reported quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share on Thursday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 79 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.194 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.24 billion.

Fourth-quarter comparable store sales were down 26.1% year over year.

Equities Trading UP

SmileDirectClub, Inc. SDC shares shot up 18% to $5.71 after the company announced it's now producing medical-grade face shields for health care workers amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Shares of BIO-key International, Inc. BKYI got a boost, shooting 298% to $2.18 after the company won a $45 million contract for its biometric software and hardware solutions.

Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ETON shares were also up, gaining 18% to $3.93 after the company reported the purchase of US marketing rights to pediatric orphan drug Alkindi Sprinkle.

Equities Trading DOWN

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation ABUS shares tumbled 43% to $1.2950. Arbutus Biopharma announced positive preliminary results from a Phase 1a/1b clinical study of its RNAi therapy AB-729 in healthy subjects and two cohorts of chronic hepatitis B subjects on nucleos(t)ide antiviral therapy. The study was meant to determine the most effective dose and dosing interval for use in future Phase 2 combination clinical trials.

Shares of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc. RRTS were down 30% to $4.8326 after the company announced plans to voluntarily withdraw from NYSE and deregister with the SEC.

BGC Partners, Inc. BGCP was down, falling 26% to $2.3999 after Raymond James downgraded the stock from Strong Buy to Market Perform.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 5.2% to $21.43, while gold traded down 1.6% to $1,625.10.

Silver traded down 1.2% Friday to $14.495, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.1815.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 3.7% the Spanish Ibex Index fell 4.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 3.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 4%, and the French CAC 40 fell 5% while UK shares fell 5.5%.

Economics

U.S. personal spending increased 0.2% month-over-month in February, while personal income rose by 0.6%.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment fell to 89.1 in March, versus a reading of 101.0 in February.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.