Mid-Day Market Update: Hub Group Slides On Downbeat Q1 Results; Medigus Share Jump

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 2.04% to 23,850.80 while the NASDAQ fell 2.47% to 8,670.22. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.33% to 2,844.47.

The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 1,070,030 coronavirus cases with around 63,010 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 213,430 coronavirus cases with 24,540 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 205,460 confirmed cases and 27,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,271,960 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 233,700 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples slipped by just 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Clorox Company CLX, up 4%, and B&G Foods, Inc. BGS, up 3%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 4.6%.

Top Headline

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Amazon reported quarterly earnings of $5.01 per share on Thursday, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $6.25. The company reported quarterly sales of $75.5 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $73.610 billion.

Amazon said it expects second-quarter sales $75 billion to $81 billion. The company plans to spend $4 billion on coronavirus-related expenses.

Equities Trading UP

Medigus Ltd. MDGS shares shot up 67% to $3.92 after the company announced it has received its first commercial order for coronavirus testing kits.

Shares of ASGN Incorporated ASGN got a boost, shooting 13% to $52.33 following better-than-expected Q1 results.

International Money Express, Inc. IMXI shares were also up, gaining 26% to $10.16 after reporting upbeat Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pixelworks, Inc. PXLW shares tumbled 22% to $3.60 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 sales.

Shares of Hub Group, Inc. HUBG were down 17% to $39.75 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results. Loop Capital downgraded Hub Group from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $58 to $52.

Marlin Business Services Corp. MRLN was down, falling 24% to $8.13 following Q1 results. The company reported quarterly net loss of $1.00 per share, versus year-ago net income of $0.41 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $19.14, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,702.20.

Silver traded up 0.3% Friday to $15.01, while copper fell 1.4% to $2.312.

Euro zone

The UK shares fell 2.34% on Friday.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 36.1 in April, versus March's final reading of 48.5.

U.S. construction spending increased 0.9% to an annual rate of $1.36 trillion in March, versus a revised 2.5% declined in the prior month.

The ISM manufacturing index dipped to 41.5 in April, versus a reading of 49.1 in the prior month.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.