Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.18% to 35,204.03 while the NASDAQ fell 1.24% to 14,610.77. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.06% to 4,432.01.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 36,888,970 cases with around 622,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,250,670 cases and 432,070 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,378,570 COVID-19 cases with 569,490 deaths. In total, there were at least 207,882,950 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,372,550 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Health care shares rose 0.5% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc. MRVI, up 7% and BioNTech SE BNTX up 5%.
In trading on Tuesday, consumer discretionary fell 2.9%.
Top Headline
Walmart Inc. WMT reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for its second quarter on Tuesday.
Walmart reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.78 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.56 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $141.00 billion, versus estimates of $136.88 billion.
Walmart said it expects Q3 EPS of $1.30 to $1.40, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.31. The company also sees FY22 EPS of $6.20 to $6.35, compared to expectations of $6.02.
Equities Trading UP
Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. VRPX shares shot up 237% to $14.16 after the company received a written pre-investigational new drug (pre-IND) response from the FDA regarding MMS019. The drug candidate is a high-density molecular masking spray under development for use as an anti-viral barrier product. Virpax plans to pursue prophylactic treatment against SARS and influenza for daily use as an OTC product.
Shares of LM Funding America, Inc. LMFA got a boost, shooting 11% to $5.11 after the company swung to a profit in the second quarter.
monday.com Ltd. MNDY shares were also up, gaining 21% to $296.10 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results. The company also issued Q3 and FY21 sales guidance above analyst estimates.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
WidePoint Corporation WYY shares tumbled 22% to $5.44 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results.
Shares of Kubient Inc KBNT were down 24% to $3.3699 after the company reported Q2 earnings results.
Sunlight Financial Holdings Inc. SUNL was down, falling 22% to $5.79 following weak Q2 sales.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $66.72, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,787.40.
Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $23.66 while copper fell 2.8% to $4.2065.
Euro zone
European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.07%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.68% and the German DAX 30 slipped 0.02%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.38%, French CAC 40 fell 0.28% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.85%.
The UK unemployment rate dropped to 4.7% in the second quarter from 4.9% in the previous period. Labor productivity in the UK declined 0.5% on quarter in the second quarter. The Eurozone economy grew 2.0% on quarter during the second quarter after recording contraction for two consecutive periods.
Economics
US retail sales dropped 1.1% in July following a revised 0.7% rise in June.
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index jumped 15.6% year-over-year during the first two weeks of August.
US industrial production increased 0.9% for July.
US business inventories rose 0.8% for June.
The NAHB housing market index fell to 75 in August.
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari will speak at 3:45 p.m. ET.
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