Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Tesla Beats Q1 Estimates

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, after Tesla Inc TSLA reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.91% to 35,479.84 while the NASDAQ rose 1.68% to 13,679.07. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.15% to 4,510.92.

Also check this: 4 Stocks Under $5 Insiders Are Aggressively Buying

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 3.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tesla, Inc. TSLA, up 11% and Mullen Automotive, Inc. MULN up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Tesla Inc TSLA reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

The company reported production of 305,407 vehicles and deliveries of 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter, up 69% and 68% year-over-year, respectively.

Equities Trading UP

Alpha Tau Medical Ltd. DRTS shares shot up 14% to $10.15.

Shares of Inozyme Pharma, Inc. INZY got a boost, shooting 16% to $5.10. Inozyme Pharma, Inc. INZY Director Pivotal bioVenture Partners Fund I U.G.P., Ltd acquired a total of 1,070,000 shares at an average price of $3.69.

Tesla, Inc. TSLA shares were also up, gaining 10% to $1,076.93 following strong quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. MCRI shares tumbled 16% to $78.08 after the company reported Q1 results. Jefferies and Stifel downgraded the stock to Hold.

Shares of Xerox Holdings Corporation XRX were down 14% to $16.99 after the company swung to a loss in the first quarter.

Sleep Number Corporation SNBR was down, falling 12% to $45.05 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales and issued FY22 guidance below estimates. Piper Sandler downgraded Sleep Number from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $62 to $49.

Also check out: Twitter And 4 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $103.17, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,947.00.

Silver traded down 1% Thursday to $25.015 while copper rose 0.5% to $4.6730.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.8%. The German DAX climbed 1.1%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.1%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone eased to 7.4% in March from initial reading of 7.5%. The manufacturing climate indicator in France rose to 108 in April from 107 in March.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 2 thousand to 184 thousand in the week ended April 16th.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index declined to 17.6 in April from 27.4 in March.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3% for March.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard will speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Check out this: 3 Stocks Under $2 Insiders Are Aggressively Buying

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 82,488,510 cases with around 1,017,090 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,049,970 cases and 522,060 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,311,960 COVID-19 cases with 662,470 deaths. In total, there were at least 507,109,390 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,232,630 deaths.