Why U.S. Stocks Are Trading Mixed; Labor Costs Increase Higher-Than-Expected In Q2

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq dropping around 90 points on Tuesday.

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 32,853.24 while the NASDAQ fell 0.75% to 12,549.06. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.14% to 4,134.32.

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Top Headline

U.S. non-farm labor productivity declined an annualized 4.6% in the second quarter compared to market estimates of a 4.7% decline. Unit labor costs in the US nonfarm business sector, meanwhile, jumped by 10.8% in the second quarter, following a revised 12.7% increase in the prior period and versus analysts’ estimates of a 9.5% increase.

Equities Trading UP

Verona Pharma plc VRNA shares shot up 99% to $13.85 after the company announced ensifentrine met its primary endpoint and secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 ENHANCE-2 trial for COPD. The company also reported Q2 earnings results.

Shares of BBQ Holdings, Inc. BBQ got a boost, shooting 46% to $17.06 after the company announced MTY Food Group entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company for $17.25 per share.

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. MRSN shares were also up, gaining 31% to $6.88. Mersana Therapeutics announced a global collaboration that provides GSK plc an exclusive option to co-develop and commercialize XMT-2056.

Equities Trading DOWN

Quanterix Corporation QTRX shares tumbled 53% to $7.74 after the company announced Q2 results and provided an update on clinical development programs.

Shares of CorMedix Inc. CRMD were down 53% to $3.57 after the company announced it received a second Complete Response Letter from the FDA stating that the DefenCath NDA cannot be approved until certain deficiencies are resolved to the satisfaction of the FDA.

Magic Empire Global Limited MEGL was down, falling 86% to $16.01 on volatility following the company's IPO on Friday.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $91.66, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,813.60.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $20.59 on Tuesday while copper rose 0.9% to $3.6180.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5%. The German DAX fell 0.9%, French CAC 40 fell 0.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.6%.

Retail sales in the UK climbed by 1.6% on a like-for-like basis for July from a year earlier, growing for the first time in five months.

Economics

 

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 89.9 in July from 89.5 in June.

U.S. non-farm labor productivity declined an annualized 4.6% in the second quarter compared to market estimates of a 4.7% decline. Unit labor costs in the US nonfarm business sector, meanwhile, jumped by 10.8% in the second quarter, following a revised 12.7% increase in the prior period and versus analysts’ estimates of a 9.5% increase.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 94,024,920 cases with around 1,059,210 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,174,650 cases and 526,770 deaths, while France reported over 34,079,650 COVID-19 cases with 152,710 deaths. In total, there were at least 590,430,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,439,010 deaths.