Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps 270 Points; Twilio Shares Rise On Upbeat Results

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.14% to 23,935.40 while the NASDAQ rose 1.46% to 8,983.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.34% to 2,886.50.

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 1,228,600 coronavirus cases with around 73,430 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 220,320 coronavirus cases with 25,850 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 214,450 confirmed cases and 29,680 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,769,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 264,110 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 3.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. VIST, up 19%, and Targa Resources Corp. TRGP, up 17%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Bristol Myers reported quarterly earnings of $1.72 per share, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $1.49. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.80 billion, which surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $10.02 billion.

Bristol Myers reaffirmed its earnings guidance for FY20 and FY21.

Equities Trading UP

Twilio Inc. TWLO shares shot up 43% to $175.21 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and issued Q2 guidance above estimates.

Shares of GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK got a boost, shooting 34% to $13.02. GenMark Diagnostics priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 7.25 million shares at $9.65 per share, to generate gross proceeds of about $70 million.

Fastly, Inc. FSLY shares were also up, gaining 43% to $33.06 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales and issued Q2 and FY20 guidance above estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vista Outdoor Inc. VSTO shares tumbled 27% to $7.12 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 sales and issued downbeat Q1 guidance.

Shares of SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX were down 27% to $2.41 after the company priced 6 million share public offering of common stock at $2.50 per share.

ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. SERV was down, falling 20% to $25.89 after the company reported downbeat Q1 sales.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $23.91, while gold traded up 2.1% to $1,724.40.

Silver traded up 3.8% Thursday to $15.59, while copper rose 1.5% to $2.383.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.09%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.89%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.44%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.54% while UK shares rose 1.4%.

Economics

Around 3.17 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the latest week. However, analysts expected a reading of 3 million.

U.S. nonfarm productivity declined an annualized 2.5% in the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 5.5% drop. Unit labor costs rose an annualized 4.8% in the quarter.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 109 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 105 billion cubic feet.

Data on consumer credit for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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