Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gain; Lennar Beats Q1 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.01% to 20,100.08 while the NASDAQ rose 3.02% to 7,200.88. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.15% to 2,425.70.

US reported a total of 9,400 coronavirus cases with around 150 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 35,000 confirmed cases and 2,900 deaths, while Iran confirmed a total of over 18,000 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since the outbreak began. In total, there are at least 222,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 9,100 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 1.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included IMAX Corporation IMAX, up 48%, and Glu Mobile Inc. GLUU, up 15%.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares dipped 3.2%.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Lennar posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.27 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.84 per share. The company’s homebuilding sales came in at $4.172 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $4.16 billion.

The company also suspended its financial forecast following coronavirus uncertainties.

 

Equities Trading UP

Biomerica, Inc. BMRA shares shot up 78% to $18.37. Biomerica shares jumped over 340% on Wednesday after the company said it has commenced shipping initial samples of its COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test – a finger prick test with results in 10 minutes – to countries outside of the U.S.

Shares of Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY got a boost, shooting 53% to $7.44. Dave & Buster's reported a shareholder rights plan with duration of 364 days.

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII shares were also up, gaining 50% to $6.76 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.


Equities Trading DOWN

Acer Therapeutics Inc. ACER shares tumbled 38% to $1.26. Acer Therapeutics said its fourth-quarter loss per share narrowed from 85 cents to 51 cents. Separately, the company said the Office of New Drugs of the FDA has denied its appeal of the Complete Response Letter for EDSIVO NDA.

Shares of ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY were down 21% to $7.16 after climbing 89.7% on Wednesday.

Duluth Holdings Inc. DLTH was down, falling 20% to $3.49 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 11.1% to $22.62, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,477.90.

Silver traded up 1.9% Thursday to $11.99, while copper fell 1.7% to $2.115.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 2.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.7%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.5% while UK shares fell 2.1%.


Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 70,000 to 281,000 in the week ended March 14. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 220,000.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index tumbled to -12.7 in March, versus a reading of 36.7 in February.

The US current account deficit narrowed 12.4% to $109.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Economists were projecting a deficit of $109.0 billion.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% for February.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 6-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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