Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; McCormick Tops Q3 Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.02% to 27577.74 while the NASDAQ rose 0.24% to 11143.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13% to 3,355.94.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,150,820 cases with around 205,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,145,290 confirmed cases and 96,310 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,745,460 COVID-19 cases with 142,050 deaths. In total, there were at least 33,417,380 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,002,860 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 3.3% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included WPX Energy, Inc. WPX, up 17%, and Centennial Resource Development, Inc. CDEV, up 14%.

In trading on Tuesday, health care shares rose by just 0.9%.

Top Headline

McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

McCormick reported quarterly earnings of $1.53 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.52 per share. The company reported sales of $1.43 billion, surpassing expectations of $1.39 billion.

McCormick said it expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $5.64 to $5.72 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.76 per share. The company also announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

Equities Trading UP

U.S. Energy Corp. USEG shares shot up 191% to $12.51 after the company announced the acquisition of non-operated producing properties in New Mexico.

Shares of Flux Power Holdings, Inc. FLUX got a boost, shooting 27% to $6.85 after the company reported Q4 results.

Novus Capital Corporation NOVS shares were also up, gaining 26% to $12.70. AppHarvest and Novus Capital announced a business combination that would result in AppHarvest becoming a public company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Just Energy Group Inc. JE shares tumbled 28% to $6.90.

Shares of Myovant Sciences Ltd. MYOV were down 24% to $16.02 after the company announced that its Relugolix did not achieve a statistical superiority for castration resistance-free survival compared to Leuprolide acetate in men with metastatic disease through 48 weeks.

Ambow Education Holding Ltd. AMBO was down, falling 22% to $3.21. Ambow Education shares gained 126% on Monday after the company announced it expanded its strategic partnership with Amazon in a digital professional education, training and certification.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $39.92, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,891.90.

Silver traded up 2% Tuesday to $24.085 while copper fell 0.7% to $2.9705.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 fell 0.3%, French CAC 40 fell 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4%.

Economics

The US trade deficit on goods increased to $82.94 billion in August versus a revised $80.11 billion in the earlier month.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.5% in August.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 3.9% year-over-year in July versus a 3.5% rise in the prior month.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index climbed to 101.80 in September versus prior reading of 84.80.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 11:40 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.