Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Climbs 350 Points; Tronox Holdings Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.5% to 23,890.31 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 8,536.23. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.31% to 2,836.24.

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 671,420 coronavirus cases with around 33,280 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 184,940 coronavirus cases with 19,310 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 168,940 confirmed cases and 22,170 deaths. In total, there were at least 2,167,950 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 146,050 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 7.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included USA Compression Partners, LP USAC, up 25%, and ProPetro Holding Corp. PUMP, up 21%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The Procter & Gamble Company PG reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views.

Procter & Gamble posted quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.13 per share. Its sales came in at $17.20 billion, missing expectations of $17.46 billion.

Equities Trading UP

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC shares shot up 31% to $3.2050 as equities gain amid a report suggesting Gilead Sciences' Remdesivir drug showed some effectiveness in treating the coronavirus. This has raised hopes of a sooner return to spending, economic activity, and investment.

Shares of Taronis Technologies, Inc. TRNX got a boost, shooting 61% to $0.37 after jumping 109% on Thursday.

Tronox Holdings plc TROX shares were also up, gaining 26% to $6.26 after the company reported better-than-expected preliminary results for the first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

MoSys, Inc. MOSY shares tumbled 37% to $1.60 after jumping 88% on Thursday.

Shares of Stein Mart, Inc. SMRT were down 21% to $0.2749 after the company announced a mutual termination of merger agreement with Kingswood.

Pulmatrix, Inc. PULM was down, falling 29% to $1.2550 after the company reported an $8 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 8.8% to $18.13, while gold traded down 2% to $1,696.50.

Silver traded down 2% Friday to $15.31, while copper rose 2.3% to $2.3445.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.63%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.66%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.71%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 3.15%, and the French CAC 40 climbed 3.42% while UK shares rose 2.82%.

Economics

The index of leading economic indicators declined 6.7% for March.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs declined by 66 to 438 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.