Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Albertsons Tops Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.32% to 35,182.99 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12% to 14,915.84. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06% to 4,468.81.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,792,530 cases with around 744,540 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,081,310 cases and 452,320 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,644,460 COVID-19 cases with 603,320 deaths. In total, there were at least 241,556,670 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,915,950 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 1.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TORM plc TRMD, up 10% and PHX Minerals Inc. PHX up 13%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Albertsons Companies, Inc. ACI reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Monday.

Albertsons reported quarterly earnings of $0.64 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.45 per share. The company reported quarterly revenue of $16.50 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $15.81 billion.

Albertsons also increased its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.12 per share. The next quarterly dividend will be paid on November 12, 2021, to stockholders of record on October 29, 2021. Albertsons raised FY21 EPS guidance to $2.50 - $2.60 (previously $2.20 - $2.30) versus the consensus of $2.28. The company also raised adjusted EBITDA to $3.95 billion - $4.05 billion (prior view $3.7 billion - $3.8 billion).

 

Equities Trading UP

Valneva SE VALN shares shot up 35% to $37.83after the company reported VLA2001 met both co-primary endpoints in the Phase 3 pivotal trial Cov-Compare.

Shares of Evolving Systems, Inc EVOL got a boost, shooting 19% to $2.67 after the company announced it will sell its activation and marketing businesses to PartnerOne Capital for $40 million.

Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc. AVTE shares were also up, gaining 20% to $17.04 after declining around 19% on Friday.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Revance Therapeutics, Inc. RVNC shares tumbled 41% to $13.50. The FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) regarding Revance Therapeutics’ marketing application for DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection for moderate to severe glabellar (frown) lines.

Shares of Omeros Corporation OMER were down 29% to $5.50 after the company announced it received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for the Biologics License Application for narsoplimab in the treatment of HSCT-TMA.

Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PHAT was down, falling 19% to $26.49. Phathom Pharmaceuticals announced data from the PHALCON-EE Phase 3 trial evaluating vonoprazan versus lansoprazole for erosive esophagitis (EE).

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $83.64, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,761.80.

Silver traded down 0.3% Monday to $23.29 while copper rose 0.2% to $4.7375.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.7% and the German DAX 30 declined 0.6%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, French CAC 40 dipped 0.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB dropped 0.9%.

Economics

Industrial production dropped 1.3% in September, following a revised 0.1% drop in August.

The NAHB housing market index increased 4 points to a reading of 80 in October.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari will speak at 2:15 p.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for August will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here