Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 2%; Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Shares Jump

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.16% to 26076.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.30% to 9940.59. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.06% to 3,115.23.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,163,290 cases with around 117,710 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 955,370 COVID-19 cases with 46,510 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 560,270 confirmed cases and 7,630 deaths. In total, there were at least 8,367,890 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 449,390 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dynagas LNG Partners LP DLNG, up 10%, and PBF Energy Inc PBF, up 9%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Kroger Co KR reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Kroger reported quarterly earnings of $1.22 per share on Thursday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.09. The company reported quarterly sales of $41.55 billion, which surpassed the consensus estimate of $40.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. ALPN shares shot up 161% to $12.69 after the company reported an exclusive worldwide option and licensing agreement with AbbVie for out-licensing its lead drug ALPN-101, a dual CD28/ICOS co-stimulation antagonist that plays key roles in multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Shares of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ELOX got a boost, shooting 17% to $3.5750 after the company disclosed that enrollment in its Phase 2 trial for ELX-02 has resumed in Israel and Europe. It was on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Allied Esports Entertainment Inc AESE shares were also up, gaining 28% to $2.67 after the company announced that its HyperX esports arena in Las Vegas will reopen on June 25th.

Equities Trading DOWN

QuickLogic Corporation QUIK shares tumbled 19% to $3.62 after the company priced its 2.5 million shares common stock offering at $3.50 per share.

Shares of Brickell Biotech, Inc. BBI were down 18% to $1.055 after the company reported pricing of $20.1 million underwritten public offering.

IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. IDYA was down, falling 20% to $14.85 after the company priced its 6.6 million share public offering of common stock at $15.50 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $38.72, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,731.00.

Silver traded down 1.3% Thursday to $17.54, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.5915.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.71%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.18%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.51%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.81%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.75% and UK shares fell 0.47%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 1.508 million for the latest week, versus a revised reading of 1.56 million in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index surged to 27.5 in June, versus a reading of -43.1 in May.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 2.8% for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.3% increase.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 85 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 79 billion cubic feet.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.