Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Coca-Cola Tops Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.8% to 23224.37 while the NASDAQ fell 2.04% to 8386.31. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.89% to 2,769.81.

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 787,960 coronavirus cases with around 42,360 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 204,170 coronavirus cases with 21,280 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 181,220 confirmed cases and 24,110 deaths. In total, there were at least 2,494,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 171,240 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares fell by just 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK, up 5%, and Carvana Co. CVNA, up 6%.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares tumbled 2%.

Top Headline

Coca-Cola Co KO reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Coca-Cola posted quarterly earnings of $0.51 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.44 per share. Its sales came in at $8.6 billion, versus expectations of $8.28 billion.

Equities Trading UP

The Peck Company Holdings, Inc. PECK shares shot up 68% to $4.4868.

Shares of Vaxart, Inc. VXRT got a boost, shooting 45% to $3.435 after the company reported pre-clinical data for its oral coronavirus vaccine program.

TriState Capital Holdings, Inc. TSC shares were also up, gaining 26% to $13.05 after the company disclosed upbeat Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CYCC shares tumbled 50% to $4.345 after the company reported the pricing of $20 million public offering. Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals jumped 35% on Monday following the announcement of a partnership to study two of its drugs to treat complications arising from COVID-19.

Shares of Summit Wireless Technologies, Inc. WISA were down 42% to $2.44. Summit Wireless priced its 2 million share offering at $3.26 per share.

Immuron Limited IMRN was down, falling 16% to $2.70. Immuron shares jumped 36% on Monday after the company disclosed a 95% year-over-year rise in its North American Travelan sales.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 81.1% to -$7.13, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,688.80.

Silver traded down 3.3% Tuesday to $15.105, while copper fell 4.6% to $2.214.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 2.5%, and the French CAC 40 fell 2.2% while UK shares fell 1.9%.

Economics

Sales of existing houses in the US dropped 8.5% to an annual rate of 5.27 million units in March.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.