Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains 2%; SAB Biotherapeutics Shares Slide

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones gaining 2% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 2.07% to 33,983.50 while the NASDAQ rose 1.77% to 13,771.67. The S&P also rose, gaining, 2.12% to 4,397.44.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Resources Corporation AREC, up 14% and Borr Drilling Limited BORR up 17%.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares rose by just 0.9%.

Top Headline

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.597 million barrels in the week ended February 25th, versus a 4.515 million increase in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting for a 2.748 million barrel gain.

Equities Trading UP

Nordstrom, Inc. JWN shares shot up 39% to $27.20 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results. The company also issued FY22 guidance.

Shares of Arlo Technologies, Inc. ARLO got a boost, shooting 30% to $11.26 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued Q1 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Rocky Brands, Inc. RCKY shares were also up, gaining 26% to $47.15 following better-than-expected Q4 results.

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Equities Trading DOWN

SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. SABS shares tumbled 29% to $3.2650. SAB Biotherapeutics said that due to low hospitalization and death rates in the trial, the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) ACTIV-2 Program is discontinuing enrollment in its Phase 3 COVID-19 trial.

Shares of Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. KPTI were down 38% to $6.44 after the company announced it received feedback from the FDA that the current SIENDO study top-line results are unlikely to support an sNDA approval.

GoHealth, Inc. GOCO was down, falling 28% to $1.4324 after the company reported preliminary Q4 and year-end results. Truist Securities downgraded GoHealth from Buy to Hold.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 5.6% to $109.22, while gold traded down 1.2% to $1,920.60.

Silver traded down 1.4% Wednesday to $25.185 while copper rose 1.8% to $4.68.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.90%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.36%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.62%. The German DAX gained 0.69%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.59% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.70%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to a fresh record high of 5.8% in February from 5.1% in January. The unemployment rate in Germany fell to 5% in February from 5.1% in January. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain declined by 11,394 from a month ago to 3.11 million during February.

French government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 15.9 billion in January from EUR 21.9 billion in the previous month. House prices in the UK surged by 12.6% year-over-year in February.

Economics

Private businesses hired 475,000 workers in February, the ADP said.

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.597 million barrels in the week ended February 25th, versus a 4.515 million increase in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting for a 2.748 million barrel gain.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its Beige Book report.

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Check out the full economic calendar here

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 80,697,920 cases with around 977,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,938,590 cases and 514,240 deaths, while Brazil reported over 28,811,160 COVID-19 cases with 649,710 deaths. In total, there were at least 439,261,310 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,986,710 deaths.