Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Pfizer Reports Mixed Q4 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.58% to 30,690.48 while the NASDAQ rose 1.11% to 13,552.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.43% to 3,827.89.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 26,322,210 cases with around 443,610 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,766,240 confirmed cases and 154,480 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,229,320 COVID-19 cases with 225,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 103,499,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,240,720 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 2.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Futu Holdings Ltd FUTU, up 14%, and Up Fintech Holding Ltd TIGR, up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.

Pfizer reported quarterly earnings of $0.42 per share, missing analysts’ expectations of $0.48 per share. The company posted revenue of $11.70 billion, versus estimates of $11.43 billion.

Pfizer raised its FY21 adjusted EPS guidance from $3.00-$3.10 to $3.10-$3.20.

 

 

Equities Trading UP

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBRX shares shot up 75% to $8.20 after the company announced 100% survival was achieved in osteosarcoma lunch metastases animal model.

Shares of Cassava Sciences, Inc.. SAVA got a boost, shooting 65% to $38.19 after the company announced results of an interim analysis from an open-label study of simufilam, its lead drug candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The company said "patients' cognition and behavior scores both improved following six months of simufilam treatment, with no safety issues."

Lizhi Inc. LIZI shares were also up, gaining 45% to $5.29.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

GameStop Corp. GME shares tumbled 51% to $109.11 after declining around 31% on Monday. The stock has been increasingly volatile following interest from retail investors.

Shares of Koss Corporation KOSS were down 43% to $19.86. Koss shares also dipped over 45% on Monday, selling off following last week's surge, which was driven by high retail investor interest and speculative trading.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC was down, falling 41% to $7.80. The stock has been increasingly volatile following interest from retail investors.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3% to $54.80, while gold traded down 1% to $1,845.80.

Silver traded down 5.6% Tuesday to $27.765 while copper fell 1.1% to $3.5060.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.5% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.1%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 1.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1%.

The Eurozone economy shrank 0.7% on quarter during the final three months of 2020. Annual inflation rate in France rose to 0.6% in January, while UK’s annual house price growth slowed to 6.4% in January.

Economics

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here