Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Oracle Sales Miss Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 26,301.97 while the NASDAQ rose 0.41% to 9,936.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07% to 3,126.88.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,137,730 cases with around 116,960 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 923,180 COVID-19 cases with 45,240 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 552,540 confirmed cases and 7,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 8,199,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 444,360 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MannKind Corporation MNKD, up 15%, and EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. EYPT, up 13%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.6%.

Top Headline

Oracle Corporation ORCL reported weaker-than-expected sales for its fourth quarter, while profit surpassed estimates.

Oracle reported quarterly earnings of $1.20 per share on Tuesday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.16. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.40 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $10.67 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Energous Corporation WATT shares shot up 30% to $2.88 after the company reported a partnership with Chinese battery manufacturer, Grepow Battery.

Shares of The Alkaline Water Company Inc. WTER got a boost, shooting 15% to $1.545 after the company reported a 51% year-over-year rise Q4 sales.

InnerWorkings, Inc. INWK shares were also up, gaining 25% to $2.005 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. CEMI shares tumbled 60% to $3.98 after the company announced the FDA has revoked the emergency use authorization for its antibody test.

Shares of BioCardia, Inc. BCDA were down 26% to $2.1498. BioCardia priced its 4.762 million share common stock offering at $2.10 per share.

InflaRx N.V. IFRX was down, falling 21% to $5.69 after the company reported topline results from exploratory Phase II part of adaptive randomized phase II/III trial of IFX-1 in COVID-19.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $37.73, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,725.30.

Silver traded up 0.3% Wednesday to $17.71, while copper rose 0.4% to $2.5755.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.9%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 climbed 0.6%, French CAC 40 rose 1.1% and UK shares rose 0.6%.

Economics

U.S. housing starts rose 4.3% to an annualized rate of 974,000 in May, while building permits climbed 14.4% to an annual rate of 1.220 million.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the US is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 20-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester is set to speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.