Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Tyson Foods Misses Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.75% to 23545.77 while the NASDAQ rose 0.42% to 8,641.04. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.39% to 2,819.65.

The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 1,159,240 coronavirus cases with around 67,710 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 217,460 coronavirus cases with 25,260 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 210,710 confirmed cases and 28,880 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,529,400 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 248,020 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 1.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Denbury Resources Inc. DNR, up 9%, and Gulfport Energy Corporation GPOR, up 13%.

In trading on Monday, industrial shares fell 1.9%.

Top Headline

Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN reported downbeat results for its second quarter.

Tyson Foods reported quarterly earnings of $0.77 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.04. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.88 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $10.96 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Stemline Therapeutics, Inc STML shares shot up 153% to $12.03 after the company agreed to be acquired y Menarini Group in a transaction valued at up to $677 million.

Shares of Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. APDN got a boost, shooting 56% to $10.35 following an update from the company regarding its COVID-19 vaccine program. Applied DNA, which is working along with Takis Biotech on a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, said Monday that the first injections of its DNA vaccine candidates against the Spike protein of the virusproduced neutralizing antibodies in test animals.

Liberty Global plc LBTYB shares were also up, gaining 41% to $45.00 after Spanish telecom company, Telefonica, said it is in discussions with Liberty Global to merge UK operations.

Equities Trading DOWN

Front Yard Residential Corporation RESI shares tumbled 22% to $8.43 after the company announced the termination of its merger agreement with Amherst.

Shares of Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN were down 17% to $2.40 following Q4 results. Francesca's reported an adjusted loss of $0.31 per share for the fourth quarter, versus a year-ago loss of $0.13 per share. Its net sales slipped slightly to $118.9 million from $119.3 million. The company also announced temporary furlough of all corporate boutique and corporate employees.

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY was down, falling 15% to $11.34 after the company announced a $100 million common stock offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 6.5% to $18.50, while gold traded up 1% to $1,717.80.

Silver traded up 0.9% Monday to $15.07, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.293.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 2.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 3.2%, and the French CAC 40 slipped 3.8% while UK shares fell 0.2%.

Economics

Data on factory orders dropped 10.3% in March, versus a revised 0.1% fall in March.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for April is scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.