Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; G-III Apparel Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.99% to 34,824.47 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.40% to 15,755.57. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.39% to 4,630.57.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 49,428,910 cases with around 803,040 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,596,770 cases and 469,240 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,094,450 COVID-19 cases with 614,750 deaths. In total, there were at least 263,226,130 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,236,980 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 2.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Vertex Energy, Inc. VTNR, up 14% and Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A. TGS up 10%.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.

G-III Apparel Group reported quarterly earnings of $2.16 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.78 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.02 billion, versus expectations of 1.01 billion.

G-III said it sees FY22 EPS of $3.65-$3.75 and sales of $2.77 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

OceanPal Inc. OP shares shot up 75% to $9.14 after completion of spinoff from Diana Shipping on Tuesday.

Shares of Arbutus Biopharma Corporation ABUS got a boost, shooting 35% to $4.33. Moderna lost appeals of Board's rulings on Arbutus Patents, Bloomberg reported.

Ambarella, Inc. AMBA shares were also up, gaining 25% to $224.85 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued Q4 sales guidance above estimates.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

BeyondSpring Inc. BYSI shares tumbled 55% to $5.80 after the company announced the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter related to the company's plinabulin New Drug Application. HC Wainwright & Co. downgraded BeyondSpring from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. CPIX were down 19% to $4.08. Cumberland Pharmaceuticals shares jumped 128% on Tuesday after the company announced the FDA approved expanded labeling for Caldolor to now include use in pre-operative administration.

CTI BioPharma Corp. CTIC was down, falling 18% to $1.8499 after the company said the FDA has extended the review period for the new drug application for pacritinib for the treatment of adult patients with intermediate or high-risk primary or secondary myelofibrosis with a baseline platelet count of less than 50 × 109/L.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.3% to $69.01, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,787.40.

Silver traded up 0.4% Wednesday to $22.82 while copper rose 1% to $4.3245.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1%, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 1.4% and the German DAX 30 climbed 1.5%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.3%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB jumped 1.6%.

Italy’s manufacturing PMI climbed to an all-time high of 62.8 in November. Germany’s manufacturing PMI fell to 57.4 in November from a preliminary reading of 57.6, while retail trade fell 0.3% in October. The IHS Markit Spain manufacturing PMI fell to 57.1 in November from 57.4 in the prior month. Annual house price growth in the UK rose to 10.0% in November from 9.9% in the earlier month.

Economics

Private businesses hired 534,000 workers in November, versus a revised 570,000 rise in the previous month.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 58.3 in November from a preliminary reading of 59.1.

The ISM manufacturing composite index climbed to 61.1 in November from previous reading of 60.8.

US construction spending rose 0.2% for October.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here