Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Surges 4%; NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 2.43% to 23959.78 while the NASDAQ rose 4% to 8,519.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 2.98% to 2843.81.

The U.S. is the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 582,500 coronavirus cases with around 23,600 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 172,500 coronavirus cases with 18,050 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 159,500 confirmed cases and 20,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 1,929,900 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 120,450 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included GameStop Corp. GME, up 20%, and YETI Holdings, Inc. YETI, up 16%.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM reported a strong decline in its earnings for the first quarter.

The bank's net income declined to $2.87 billion, or $0.78 per share, down from $9.18 billion, or $2.65 per share, in the year-ago period. Analysts were projecting earnings of $1.84 per share. The company reported sales of $28.3 billion and managed sales of $29.1 billion versus the $29.670 billion estimate.

Equities Trading UP

Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. SONN shares shot up 85% to $9.14.

Shares of New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV got a boost, shooting 28% to $1.66 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 preliminary sales results.

Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc. ALDX shares were also up, gaining 13% to $2.7966 after the company reported top-line Phase 1 clinical trial results and clinical development plans for ADX-629.

Equities Trading DOWN

CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust, Inc. CORR shares tumbled 40% to $14.56 the company issued business update and lowered dividend outlook.

Shares of NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRBO were down 44% to $16.45. NeuroBo Pharma priced its 750,000 share common stock offering at $10 per share.

SCWorx Corp. WORX was down, falling 27% to $8.74. SCWorx shares surged 425% on Monday after the company announced the first installment of a purchase order for 48 million coronavirus rapid testing units.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 7% to $20.85, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,768.50.

Silver traded up 3.9% Tuesday to $16.14, while copper rose 1.3% to $2.3315.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.64%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.36%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.25%, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.38% while UK shares fell 0.88%.

Economics

U.S. import prices dropped 2.3% in March, versus a revised 0.7% fall in February. Export prices fell 1.6% in March, following a 1.1% decline in February.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 8.3% during the first week of April versus March.