Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges Over 400 Points; Stitch Fix Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.28% to 34,353.01 while the NASDAQ rose 1.07% to 14,904.89. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.15% to 4,404.34.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 42,413,620 cases with around 678,500 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,531,490 cases and 445,760 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,247,090 COVID-19 cases with 591,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 229,573,930 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,709,420 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 3.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PBF Energy Inc. PBF, up 12% and CVR Energy, Inc. CVI up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The Fed Reserve held the fed funds rate at 0-0.25% during its recent meeting. The Fed announced it would leave rates unchanged until the labor market reaches maximum employment.

Equities Trading UP

Marin Software Incorporated MRIN shares shot up 62% to $9.22 after the company announced a revenue share agreement with Google.

Shares of Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX got a boost, shooting 16% to $41.06 after the company reported a surprise profit for its fourth quarter, while sales also surpassed market expectations. The company said it sees Q1 net sales of $560 million to $575mn and adjusted EBITDA of $15 million to $20 million.

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. ONTX shares were also up, gaining 32% to $6.46 after the company reported preliminary data from a Phase 1/2 a trial of rigosertib plus immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab, which are being presented at the 3rd Annual RAS Targeted Drug Development Summit.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

InnovAge Holding Corp. INNV shares tumbled 25% to $8.70 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings and issued weak FY22 sales forecast.

Shares of Inotiv, Inc. NOTV were down 23% to $38.28. Inotiv agreed to acquire Envigo RMS Holding Corp in a cash and stock transaction. The company also announced a proposed convertible senior notes offering.

Summit Therapeutics Inc. SMMT was down, falling 21% to $5.11 after the company announced that the FDA disagrees with its proposed change to the primary endpoint in Phase 3 Ri-CoDIFy studies.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $71.88, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,767.30.

Silver traded up 0.3% Wednesday to $22.68 while copper rose 2.3% to $4.2220.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.99%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.03%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.47%, French CAC 40 jumped 1.29% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 1.44%.

The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone increased 1.3 points to a reading of -4 in September.

Economics

Existing-home sales fell by 2% to 5.88 million in August.

US crude oil inventories dropped 3.481 million barrels in the week ending September 17, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Fed Reserve held the fed funds rate at 0-0.25% during its recent meeting. The Fed announced it would leave rates unchanged until the labor market reaches maximum employment.

Check out the full economic calendar here