Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Falls Over 5%; Mersana Therapeutics Shares Jump

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.92% to 25224.68 while the NASDAQ fell 1.03% to 9244.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12% to 2995.41.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,681,410 cases with around 98,920 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 391,220 COVID-19 cases with 24,510 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 370,680 confirmed cases and 3,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 5,609,070 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 350,870 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 3.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Essent Group Ltd. ESNT, up 11%, and Weidai Ltd. WEI, up 19%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

Ralph Lauren Corp RL reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Ralph Lauren reported adjusted loss of 68 cents per share on Wednesday, which missed the analyst consensus estimate for earnings of 1 cent per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.27 billion, versus the analyst consensus estimate of $1.29 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Euroseas Ltd. ESEA shares shot up 30% to $3.17 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales.

Shares of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. HTZ got a boost, shooting 111% to $1.16. Hertz Global shares dipped over 80% on Tuesday after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. MRSN shares were also up, gaining 32% to $14.20 after the company reported interim safety, tolerability and efficacy data from the ongoing expansion portion of its Phase 1 study evaluating XMT-1536.

Equities Trading DOWN

TransMedics Group, Inc. TMDX shares tumbled 15% to $13.61 after the company priced 5 million shares common stock offering at $14 per share.

Shares of Moderna, Inc. MRNA were down 13% to $49.98 after Flagship Ventures Fund disclosed sale of 1.003 million shares late Tuesday.

Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp. ZOM was down, falling 27% to $0.1532 after the company reported a $20 million public offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 5.6% to $32.44, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,696.90.

Silver traded down 0.4% Wednesday to $17.53, while copper fell 2.2% to $2.3665.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.13%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.18%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.28%, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.58% while UK shares rose 1.16%.

Economics

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

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index climbed to -27 in May, versus a reading of -53 in April.

The Treasury will auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.