Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; US Factory Orders Surpass Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.01% to 34,326.18 while the NASDAQ fell 1.4% to 14,362.69. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.51% to 4,334.77.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 43,683,760 cases with around 701,170 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,834,700 cases and 448,990 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,468,120 COVID-19 cases with 597,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 234,977,030 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,803,140 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 2.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gran Tierra Energy Inc. GTE, up 10% and Borr Drilling Limited BORR up 10%.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1.9%.

Top Headline

US factory orders increased 1.2% over a previous month in August, following a revised 0.7% growth in July. Analysts, meanwhile, were expecting for a 1% rise.

 

Equities Trading UP

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. XENE shares shot up 75% to $27.37 after the company announced its phase 2 study of XEN1101 for the treatment of epilepsy met all primary and secondary endpoints.

Shares of Elmira Savings Bank ESBK got a boost, shooting 67% to $22.55 after the company announced it would be acquired by Community Bank System.

Otonomo Technologies Ltd. OTMO shares were also up, gaining 34% to $6.57.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Amplify Energy Corp. AMPY shares tumbled 46% to $3.1101 following a southern California ocean oil spill from a rig operated by Amplify Energy.

Shares of Offerpad Solutions Inc. OPAD were down 18% to $6.94 after the company, on Friday, announced a mixed shelf offering.

Owlet, Inc. OWLT was down, falling 19% to $4.46.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $75.98, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,749.60.

Silver traded down 0.8% Monday to $22.36 while copper rose 1.3% to $4.2430.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 rose 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.1%.

The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain fell by 76,113 to 3.3 million in September.

Economics

US factory orders increased 1.2% over a previous month in August, following a revised 0.7% growth in July. Analysts, meanwhile, were expecting for a 1% rise.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Investor Movement Index for September will be released at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here