Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Tumbles Over 100 Points; Ascendis Pharma Shares Spike Higher
Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.33% to 35,288.79 while the NASDAQ fell 0.62% to 14,948.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.53% to 4,472.56.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 38,223,210 cases with around 632,270 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,558,530 cases and 436,360 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,645,530 COVID-19 cases with 576,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 213,967,020 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,464,240 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Real estate shares slipped by just 0.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rafael Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RFL), up 7% and KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BEKE) up 5%.
In trading on Thursday, energy fell 1.1%.
Top Headline
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Thursday.
Dollar General posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.69 per share, exceeding market estimates of $2.57 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $8.70 billion, versus estimates of $8.59 billion.
Dollar General said it expects FY21 sales growth of 0.5%-1.5% and EPS of $9.60-$10.20.
Equities Trading UP
Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE: PSTG) shares shot up 15% to $23.99 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued strong sales guidance.
Shares of Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE) got a boost, shooting 24% to $6.85 after the company announced its board of directors has appointed Daniel A. Ninivaggi as CEO and as a member of the board. Ninivaggi is the former CEO of Icahn Enterprises L.P.
Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: ASND) shares were also up, gaining 25% to $154.42 after the company reported Q2 earnings results. Several analysts raised their price targets on the stock.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE: SLQT) shares tumbled 45% to $7.95 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 earnings. RBC Capital downgraded SelectQuote from Outperform to Sector Perform and lowered the price target from $33 to $13.
Shares of Aditxt, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) were down 29% to $2.17 after the company priced its 4.58 million share offering at $2.40 per share.
RenovoRx, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNXT) was down, falling 21% to $7.15 as the company priced its IPO at $9 per unit.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $67.63, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,792.40.
Silver traded down 0.7% Thursday to $23.605 while copper fell 0.5% to $4.2450.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.39%, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.75% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.48%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.29%, French CAC 40 fell 0.29% and Italy’s FTSE MIB declined 0.69%.
Loans to households in the Eurozone climbed 4.2% in July after rising 4.0% in the prior month. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany fell to -1.2 for September versus a revised reading of -0.4 a month ago.
UK factories produced 53,438 cars during the month of July, down by 37.6% from a year earlier. Italy's industrial sales increased 3.1% in June, while French manufacturing climate indicator rose to 110 in August.
Economics
The US economy grew by an annualized 6.6% on quarter in the second quarter, compared to 6.5% in the advance estimate.
US initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 353,000 in the week ending August 21st.
Corporate profits in the US surged 9.7% to a record high of $2.42 trillion in the second quarter.
US natural-gas supplies rose 29 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
The Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium kicks off today.
Check out the full economic calendar here
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