Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 6%; Cars.com Shares Jump On Upbeat Q1 Results

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.12% to 23,851.92 while the NASDAQ rose 0.90% to 8,888.73. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03% to 2,867.59.

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 1,205,130 coronavirus cases with around 71,070 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 219,320 coronavirus cases with 25,610 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 213,010 confirmed cases and 29,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,688,630 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 258,080 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed by 1.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LivePerson, Inc. LPSN, up 29%, and Nutanix, Inc. NTNX, up 16%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 2.3%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

GM reported quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $0.33. The company reported quarterly sales of $32.7 billion, which surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $31.12 billion.

Equities Trading UP

MacroGenics, Inc. MGNX shares shot up 102% to $15.35 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Shares of CPS Technologies Corporation CPSH got a boost, shooting 56% to $1.72 following Q1 results. CPS Technologies posted Q1 earnings of $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.06 per share.

Cars.com Inc. CARS shares were also up, gaining 37% to $6.20 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nautilus, Inc. NLS shares tumbled 22% to $5.15 after the company reported weak Q1 sales.

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. ANDE were down 16% to $13.06 after reporting Q1 results. Andersons posted a Q1 loss of $1.32 per share.

Inogen, Inc. INGN was down, falling 18% to $43.46 after the company reported Q1 results and withdrew its FY20 guidance.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 6.1% to $23.05, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,689.20.

Silver traded down 0.3% Wednesday to $15.065, while copper rose 0.4% to $2.341.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.88%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.73%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.7% while UK shares rose 0.05%.

Economics

Private-sector companies fired 20.2 million workers in April, after shedding a revised 149,000 workers in the prior month, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.

U.S. crude inventories climbed 4.6 million barrels for the week ended May 1, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 7.1 million barrels.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.