Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Higher; Systemax Shares Fall Following Q4 Earnings


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Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.90% to 31,820.21 while the NASDAQ rose 0.54% to 13,537.51. The S&P also rose, gainng 0.70% to 3,908.73.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 28,261,610 cases with around 502,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 11,030,170 confirmed cases and 156,560 deaths, while Brazil reported over 10,257,870 COVID-19 cases with 248,520 deaths. In total, there were at least 112,184,230 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,487,150 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors


Energy shares rose 3.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE), up 13%, and Ring Energy, Inc. (NYSE:REI), up 20%.


In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1%.


Top Headline

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Lowe's reported quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.19 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $20.30 billion, versus expectations of $19.24 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP


Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVOS) shares shot up 139% to $8.98 after the company stock was uplisted to the Nasdaq Capital Market.


Shares of Sypris Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYPR) got a boost, shooting 94% to $5.16 after the company announced it has won a defense contract award for electronic modules for precision-guided anti-ship missile system.


Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) shares were also up, gaining 26% to $5.41. Sunesis Pharmaceuticals shares gained 20% on Tuesday after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock from Perform to Outperform and announced a price target of $12 per share. The company earlier announced vote approving reverse stock split within range between 3-for-1 and 6-for-1.

Check out these big movers of the day


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Equities Trading DOWN

Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNST) shares tumbled 15% to $30.75 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Shares of Entercom Communications Corp. (NYSE:ETM) were down 14% to $5.35 following downbeat quarterly earnings.

Systemax Inc. (NYSE:SYX) was down, falling 16% to $37.45 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $62.95, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,799.20.


Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $27.86 while copper rose 1.2% to $4.2280.


Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.46%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.21% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.8%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.31%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.69%.

French manufacturing climate indicator climbed to 97 in February from a revised reading of 96 in January, while German economy grew 0.3% on quarter during the final three months of 2020.


Economics

US new home sales increased 4.3% to an annual rate of 923,000 in January.


US crude-oil inventories rose 1.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here


Crypto Whales Are Loading Up — Are You?

New research shows the biggest crypto buyers are back. And this time? They could hold for the possibility that Bitcoin will surpass $100,000 in 2024. You don’t want to miss the next massive crypto bull run like we saw in 2020 and 2021. To know exactly what’s going on and what to buy… Get Access To Benzinga’s Best Crypto Research and Investments For Only $1.


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