Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 300 Points; Euroseas Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.21% to 25298.15 while the NASDAQ rose 0.04% to 9344.38. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.71% to 3012.91. 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 3.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Greenhill & Co., Inc. GHL, up 14%, and Weidai Ltd. WEI, up 19%. In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.7%. 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 31% to $3.1750 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales. Shares of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. HTZ got a boost, shooting 82% to $1.01. 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 49% to $16.02 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 13% to $13.82 after the company priced 5 million shares common stock offering at $14 per share. Shares of Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. UEPS were down 12% to $3.25 after reporting Q3 results. Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp. ZOM was down, falling 26% to $0.1551 after the company reported a $20 million public offering. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 3.9% to $33.02, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,710.90. Silver traded up 0.8% Wednesday to $17.735, while copper fell 1.4% to $2.384. Euro zone European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 surged 0.24%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.44%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.28%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.33%, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.79% while UK shares rose 1.26%. 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 Federal Open Market Committee released its latest Beige Book report.