Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Deere Beats Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.84% to 34,370.30 while the NASDAQ rose 0.37% to 13,585.45. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.58% to 4,183.17.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,056,860 cases with around 588,530 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 26,031,990 cases and 291,330 deaths, while Brazil reported over 15,894,090 COVID-19 cases with 444,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 165,580,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,431,850 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed 1.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Hawkins, Inc. HWKN, up 6%, and Mechel PAO MTL, up 8%.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

Deere & Company HRL reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Deere reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $5.68 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $4.52 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $12.06 billion, exceeding market views of $10.44 billion.

Deere raised its FY21 net income guidance from $4.6 billion-$5 billion to $5.3 billion-$5.7 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Annovis Bio, Inc. ANVS shares shot up 113% to $56.11 after the company announced new results from a Phase 2 study evaluating its lead drug candidate, ANVS401, for Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD). Participants treated with ANVS401 for 25 days showed statistically significant cognitive improvement, as per Alzheimer's cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog11).

Shares of Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. GRCL got a boost, shooting 23% to $17.90. Gracell Biotechnologies is scheduled to host clinical update conference call and webcast on June 4, 2021.

Wah Fu Education Group Limited WAFU shares were also up, gaining 21% to $8.10 following news from Meten EdtechX Education student enrollment for its English-language training classes were up more than 750% year over year in April.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. ONTX shares tumbled 10% to $9.87. Onconova Therapeutics reported initial dosing of first patient in US Phase 1 trial on ON123300. The company yesterday announced a 1-for-15 reverse stock split.

Shares of Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited CLWT were down 9% to $3.85 after jumping 17% on Thursday.

Cullinan Oncology, Inc. CGEM was down, falling 9% to $27.74 after the company reported management transition. The company said Jon Wigginton, M.D. is stepping down from his day-to-day role as Chief Medical Officer, and will assume the role of Chairman of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board and Senior Advisor to the CEO.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $62.74, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,880.10.

Silver traded down 0.5% Friday to $27.93 while copper fell 0.4% to $4.5505.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%, French CAC 40 gained 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.7%.

Eurozone composite PMI climbed to 56.9 in May from 53.8 in April. German composite PMI climbed to 56.2 in May from 55.8 in the prior month, while French composite PMI surged to 57 from 51.6.

Retail sales in the UK jumped 9.2% in April, while composite PMI increased to 62.0 in May from 60.7 in the prior month.

Economics

The IHS Markit services PMI surged to 70.1 in May from 64.7 in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI climbed to 61.5 in May.

Existing home sales dropped 2.7% to 5.858 million in April.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here