Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; McCormick Posts Mixed Q1 Results

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.45% to 22429.04 while the NASDAQ rose 0.99% to 7851.00. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.31% to 2,634.70.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. U.S. reported a total of 164,600 coronavirus cases with around 3,100 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 101,700 confirmed cases and 11,500 deaths, while Spain confirmed a total of over 87,900 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported 48 new cases on Monday. In total, there are at least 800,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 38,700 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 2.9% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Green Plains Inc GPRE, up 20%, and Propetro Holding Corp PUMP, up 25%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares dipped 3.1%.

Top Headline

McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC reported upbeat earnings for first third quarter, while sales missed views.

McCormick reported quarterly earnings of $1.08 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.04 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.212 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.23 billion.

Equities Trading UP

SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX shares shot up 108% to $4.29 after the company reported Q4 results.

Shares of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. EYEG got a boost, shooting 33% to $5.42 after the company announced topline data in follow-on dry eye pilot study.

ProPetro Holding Corp. PUMP shares were also up, gaining 26% to $2.72 ahead of quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Amarin Corporation plc AMRN shares tumbled 69% to $4.20 as thecourt ruled against its patent for heart treatment drug Vascepa. The United States District Court for the District of Nevada in Las Vegas ruled that six patents on Vascepa, which were all set to expire in 2030, are invalid, as earlier reported by Bloomberg.

Shares of Delphi Technologies PLC DLPH were down 26% to $7.68 after BorgWarner disclosed that draw on credit facility represents a breach of merger deal.

Plus Therapeutics, Inc. PSTV was down, falling 20% to $1.81. Plus Therapeutics reported a FY19 loss of $8.27 per share on sales of $6.998 million.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 6.2% to $21.34, while gold traded down 1.8% to $1,614.10.

Silver traded up 0.1% Tuesday to $14.14, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.1795.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.7% while UK shares rose 0.5%.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.3% during the first four weeks of March versus February.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 3.1% year-over-year in January, versus a 2.8% increase in the prior month.

The Chicago PMI fell to 47.8 for March, versus prior reading of 49.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index declined to 120 in March, versus revised reading of 132.6.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.