Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 200 Points; Gossamer Bio Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.71% to 28,630.33 while the NASDAQ fell 0.20% to 11852.15. The S&P also fell, falling 0.78% to 3,506.79.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,804,640 cases with around 215,080 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,175,880 confirmed cases and 109,850 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,103,400 COVID-19 cases with 150,680 deaths. In total, there were at least 37,841,550 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,081,330 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 0.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included EverQuote, Inc. EVER, up 6%, and Globalstar, Inc. GSAT, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 1.8%.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings of $2.92 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.23 per share. The company posted sales of $29.10 billion, surpassing expectations of $28.29 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Auris Medical Holding Ltd. EARS shares shot up 26% to $1.06. Bloomberg reported that Johnson & Johnson was accused in a lawsuit of deceiving investors regarding performance-based earnings from Auris Health. Traders seem to be mistaking Auris Medical for Auris Health, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Auris Medical announced initiation of part B of TRAVERS Phase 2 study with AM-125 in vertigo.

Shares of J.Jill, Inc. JILL got a boost, shooting 23% to $0.8453 after TowerBrook disclosed a 70.4% active stake in the company.

Medigus Ltd. MDGS shares were also up, gaining 58% to $2.9950 after the company announced it was informed by Smart Repair Pro that all of Amazon's required regulatory processes were completed, which allows for the opening of its store in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Gossamer Bio, Inc. GOSS shares tumbled 31% to $9.42 after the company announced the results from its Phase 2 LEDA trial of oral GB001 in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis did not meet the primary endpoint.

Shares of Loop Industries, Inc. LOOP were down 33% to $7.74 after Hindenburg Researched released a negative short-seller report on the company.

Royal Caribbean Group RCL was down, falling 13% to $61.00 after the company announced a $500 million common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $40.22, while gold traded down 1.7% to $1,895.40.

Silver traded down 4.2% Tuesday to $24.205 while copper fell 0.8% to $3.04.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.55%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.09%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.81%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.91%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.64% and London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.53%.

The UK unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in the three months to August compared to 4.1% in the prior period, while labor productivity declined 2% in the second quarter, versus a preliminary estimate of a 2.5% drop. The UK government also announced new restrictions to contain the rise in coronavirus cases. Consumer prices in Germany declined the most since 2015, falling 0.2% year-over-year in September.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index climbed to 104 in September versus 100.2 in August.

Annual inflation rate in the US rose to 1.4% in September 1.3% in August.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.4% for the first week of October versus September.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 8:25 p.m. ET.