Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; RPM Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.16% to 33,483.20 while the NASDAQ fell 0.05% to 13,692.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12% to 4,078.93.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 30,847,730 cases with around 556,520 deaths. Brazil reported over 13,100,580 COVID-19 cases with 336,940 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 12,801,780 cases and 166,170 deaths. In total, there were at least 132,534,870 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,875,870 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 0.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TransGlobe Energy Corporation TGA, up 1.5%, and Smart Sand, Inc. SND, up 2%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

RPM International Inc. RPM reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

RPM reported quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.29 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.27 billion, versus expectations of $1.21 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

UTime Limited UTME shares shot up 52% to $59.40. UTime shares jumped 875% on Tuesday after the company priced its IPO at $4 per share.

Shares of Insignia Systems, Inc. ISIG got a boost, shooting 37% to $8.82.

SOS Limited SOS shares were also up, gaining 22% to $5.47. A post on a Reddit thread late Tuesday, which has since then been deleted, called upon traders to buy the stock to initiate a short squeeze over the next five trading days.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

FibroGen, Inc. FGEN shares tumbled 36% to $22.25 after after a murky disclosure for roxadustat, the company’s anemia treatment in chronic kidney disease patients. While preparing for an advisory committee meeting ahead of potential approval of roxadustat, FibroGen said it realized it submitted altered information to the FDA about the drug’s cardiovascular safety.

Shares of The GEO Group, Inc. GEO were down 17% to $6.47 after the company announced it is suspending its quarterly dividend to 'maximize repayment of debt while it evaluates corporate structure.'

Homology Medicines, Inc. FIXX was down, falling 17% to $7.72 after the company priced its underwritten public offering for proceeds of approximately $50.0 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $59.86, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,738.00.

Silver traded down 1% Wednesday to $24.985 while copper fell 0.9% to $4.0790.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.1%.

Eurozone composite PMI was revised higher to 53.2 for March versus a preliminary estimate of 52.5, while services PMI rose to 49.6 in March from a preliminary reading of 48.8.

UK services PMI was revised lower to 56.3 in March from a preliminary reading of 56.8. French composite PMI was revised higher to 50 in March versus a preliminary estimate of 49.5, while German composite PMI increased to 57.3 in March from a preliminary reading of 56.8.

Economics

The trade deficit in the US increased to $71.1 billion in February from a revised $67.8 billion in the earlier month.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here