Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 75 Points; vTv Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.22% to 33,669.76 while the NASDAQ rose 0.80% to 13,960.92. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.28% to 4,139.55.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 31,268,400 cases with around 562,530 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 13,689,450 cases and 171,050 deaths, while Brazil reported over 13,517,800 COVID-19 cases with 354,610 deaths. In total, there were at least 136,727,030 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,947,840 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pure Cycle Corporation PCYO, up 4%, and Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais CIG, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

Fastenal Company FAST reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Fastenal reported quarterly earnings of $0.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.36 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.42 billion, versus expectations of $1.42 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Mackinac Financial Corporation MFNC shares shot up 56% to $20.56 after the company, and Nicolet Bankshares, jointly announced the execution of a definitive merger agreement, pursuant to which Nicolet will acquire Mackinac and its wholly-owned banking subsidiary, mBank.

Shares of NovoCure Limited NVCR got a boost, shooting 49% to $196.55 after the company issued an update on Phase 3 pivotal LUNAR trial of tumor treating fields in non-small cell lung cancer.

vTv Therapeutics Inc. VTVT shares were also up, gaining 40% to $3.5982 after the company said it received FDA breakthrough therapy designation for TTP399 for the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. ATXI shares tumbled 26% to $5.23 after the company announced FDA is still reviewing its NDA resubmission for IV tramadol and has not provided a decision.

Shares of Lucira Health, Inc. LHDX were down 20% to $8.76 after B of A Securities downgraded the stock from Buy to Underperform and announced a price target of $9 per share.

Fortress Biotech, Inc. FBIO was down, falling 14% to $4.7250. Fortress Biotech recently received a $7.5 million working capital line of credit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $60.16, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,745.30.

Silver traded up 2.1% Tuesday to $25.385 while copper rose 0.4% to $4.0335.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.12%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.13%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.36%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.02% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.59%.

The Eurozone’s ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell by 7.7 points to 66.3 in April, while German ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment declined 5.9 points to 70.7 in April. Italy’s industrial production rose 0.2% in February, while wholesale prices in Germany rose 4.4% year-over-year in March.

Imports to the UK climbed 12.9% to GBP 53.3 billion in February, while exports increased 5.4% to GBP 46.2 billion. Britain's GDP shrank by 1.6% during the three months to February, while industrial production rose 1% in February.

Economics

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 98.2 in March from 95.8 in February.

Annual inflation rate in the US surged to 2.6% in March from 1.7% in February, also above analysts’ estimates of 2.5%.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 13.2% year-over-year during the first full week of April.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here