Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Wendy's Posts Upbeat Earnings

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.54% to 35,456.02 while the NASDAQ fell 0.04% to 14,782.46. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.24% to 4,447.45.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 36,055,270 cases with around 618,130 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,036,510 cases and 429,170 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,212,640 COVID-19 cases with 564,770 deaths. In total, there were at least 204,139,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,315,870 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE, up 3% and Huaneng Power International, Inc. HNP up 2%.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell 0.1%.

Top Headline

The Wendy's Company WEN reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Wendy's reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 22.6% year-on-year, to $493.3 million, beating the analyst consensus of $461.63 million. Adjusted EPS of $0.27 beat the analyst consensus of $0.18.

Wendy's raised the FY21 adjusted EPS outlook to $0.79 - $0.81 from the prior $0.72 - $0.74, versus the consensus of $0.74.

Wendy's raised its regular quarterly cash dividend by 20% to $0.12 per share, payable on September 15, 2021, to stockholders of record as of September 1, 2021. The company's Board also approved an increase to the existing share repurchase authorization by $70 million to a total of $220 million.

 

Equities Trading UP

Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI shares shot up 34% to $14.36. The company makes respiratory products and emergency medical care products and has attracted investor attention as COVID-19 concerns grow.

Shares of AeroCentury Corp. ACY got a boost, shooting 30% to $22.12 after declining 15% on Tuesday.

Achilles Therapeutics plc ACHL shares were also up, gaining 30% to $9.80. Achilles Therapeutics shares surged 22% on Tuesday following Q2 results.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

HyreCar Inc. HYRE shares tumbled 47% to $10.10 after the company reported a wider-than-expected Q2 loss. Ladenburg Thalmann downgraded HyreCar from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of AppHarvest, Inc. APPH were down 39% to $7.32 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results and cut FY21 net sales guidance.

ON24, Inc. ONTF was down, falling 30% to $22.64 after the company reported Q2 results and issued weak FY21 guidance. JP Morgan and Canaccord Genuity downgraded the stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $67.66, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,737.00.

Silver traded down 0.3% Wednesday to $23.325 while copper fell 0.5% to $4.3305.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, French CAC 40 rose 0.103 and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.5%.

German consumer price inflation rate was confirmed at 3.8% year-over-year in July, while annual inflation rate in Italy increased to 1.9% in July from 1.3% in the earlier month.

Economics

US consumer prices increased 0.5% in July.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget statement for July is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here