Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises Over 7%; Genfit Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.08% to 24241.25 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 9,223.84. However, the S&P 500 fell 0.07% to 2,928.41.

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 1,347,930 coronavirus cases with around 80,680 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 227,430 coronavirus cases with 26,740 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 232,240 confirmed cases and 2,115 deaths. In total, there were at least 4,194,320 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 286,610 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed by 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Vedanta Limited VEDL, up 25%, and Quaker Chemical Corporation KWR, up 13%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 3.8%.

Top Headline

Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Ingersoll Rand posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.25 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.27 per share. The company’s adjusted sales came in at $1.30 billion, exceeding the consensus view of $1.24 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Novavax, Inc. NVAX shares shot up 64% to $40.07 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results. The company also announced it will receive up to $388 million in funding from CEPI for COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine development and manufacturing.

Shares of CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. CBAY got a boost, shooting 132% to $4.28 after the company announced an independent expert panel unanimously concluded there is no evidence of liver injury in the Phase 2b NASH study of seladelpar. The panel supported re-initiating development of seladelpar. The company also reported narrower-than-expected Q1 loss. Raymond James and Evercore ISI Group upgraded CymaBay Therapeutics to Outperform.

Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. HSDT shares were also up, gaining 58% to $0.6696 after the company disclosed that the FDA has granted PoNS device breakthrough device designation for the treatment of gait deficits due to symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Equities Trading DOWN

Genfit SA GNFT shares tumbled 65% to $7.53 after the company said interim analysis of the RESOLVE-IT Phase 3 trial that evaluated once-daily, 120mg of elafibranor in adults with NASH did not meet the redefined primary endpoint of NASH resolution without worsening of fibrosis in the ITT population of 1,070 patients. The study also did not achieve statistical significance in the key secondary endpoints, including fibrosis improvement of at least one stage and changes in metabolic parameters.

Shares of Advanced Emissions Solutions, Inc. ADES were down 29% to $5.48 after reporting Q1 results. Advanced Emissions Solutions posted a Q1 loss of $0.11 per share.

Eventbrite, Inc. EB was down, falling 25% to $7.95 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 7.4% to $25.92, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,708.10.

Silver traded up 0.5% Tuesday to $15.76, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.3655.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.26%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.36%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.02%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.05%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.39% while UK shares rose 0.93%.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index declined 5.5 points to a reading of 90.9 in April.

US annual inflation rate fell to 0.3% in April, versus 1.5% in March.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 1.5% during the first week of May versus April.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.