Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Best Buy Tops Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.25% to 24637.84 while the NASDAQ fell 0.27% to 9350.87. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 2971.46.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths around the world, reporting a total of 1,551,850 cases with around 93,430 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 291,570 COVID-19 cases with 18,850 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 317,550 confirmed cases and 3,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 5,016,170 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 328,470 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares climbed by 0.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Avis Budget Group, Inc. CAR, up 8%, and Tutor Perini Corporation TPC, up 8%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Best Buy reported first-quarter earnings of $0.67 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.60 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $8.562 billion, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Domestic same-store sales slipped 5.7% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Surface Oncology, Inc. SURF shares shot up 42% to $5.51 on continued momentum as the company announced an oncology partnership with Merck & Co., Inc. MRK.

Shares of LMP Automotive Holdings, Inc. LMPX got a boost, shooting 33% to $9.39 after surging 34% on Wednesday.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB shares were also up, gaining 29% to $16.42 after the company confirmed it will enter the U.S. market and will acquire Reliva for roughly $40 million in Aurora common shares and a potential earn out of $45 million in shares and cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY shares tumbled 28% to $5.14 after the company announced a $2.29 million common stock offering and a $575,000 warrants offering.

Shares of Entera Bio Ltd. ENTX were down 27% to $2.07 as the company announced interim limited biomarker data from the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of EB613 in osteoporosis patients, with the study demonstrating statistically significant effects on the P1NP biomarker after one month of treatment as compared to placebo, and meaningful increases at months two and three as compared to placebo with the highest EB613 dose of 1.5mg. The company also reported first-quarter results.

GigaMedia Limited GIGM was down, falling 23% to $2.72 after jumping 42% on Wednesday.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3% to $34.25, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,736.00.

Silver traded down 2% Thursday to $17.675, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.453.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.3%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1% while UK shares fell 0.7%.

Economics

About 2.438 million persons filed for jobless claims for the week ended May 16th. Analysts were expecting a reading of 2.4 million.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index climbed to -43.1 in May, versus a reading of -56.6 in April.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 39.8 in May versus 36.1 in April, while services PMI gained to 36.9 in May from 26.7 in the prior month.

Sales of previously owned homes dropped 17.8% to an annual rate of 4.33 million units in April.

The index of leading economic indicators dropped 4.4% for April.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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