Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Positive; Crude Oil Surges Over 5%

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.31% to 25478.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.99% to 9461.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.50% to 3044.82.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,721,920 cases with around 101,620 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 438,230 COVID-19 cases with 26,750 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 387,620 confirmed cases and 4,370 deaths. In total, there were at least 5,831,160 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 360,860 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Zscaler, Inc. ZS, up 27%, and Wrap Technologies, Inc. WRTC, up 24%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Big Lots reported quarterly earnings of $1.26 per share on Friday, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate for earnings of $0.32 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.44 billion, versus the analyst consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Its same-store sales climbed 10.3% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Sonoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNOA shares shot up 122% to $12.00 after the company announced that its Nanocyn Disinfectant & Sanitizer has received approval to be entered into the Austrialian registered of therapeutic goods to be used for use against coronavirus.

Shares of Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. PHIO got a boost, shooting 48% to $3.3101 after the company reported positive data from in vivo studies that show strong antitumoral efficacy.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc ADAP shares were also up, gaining 130% to $11.16 following an updated clinical readout from the company. The Philadelphia-based company said updated data from its Phase 1 study dubbed SPEARHEAD-1 that evaluated its ADP-A2M4, presented at the ASCO 2020 Annual Meeting, showed durability and responses in synovial sarcoma. Thisrenders the study as a potential registrational trial, the company said.

Equities Trading DOWN

Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. NERV shares tumbled 71% to $3.8899 after the company reported results from Phase 3 Trial of Roluperidone for the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Shares of Canopy Growth Corporation CGC were down 19% to $17.54 following Q4 results. Canopy Growth posted a Q4 loss of C$3.72 per share, versus a year-ago loss of C$1.10 per share.

Arvinas, Inc. ARVN was down, falling 27% to $32.94 after the company reported updated data from the dose escalation portion of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of ARV-110 in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 5.3% to $35.49, while gold traded up 1.3% to $ 1,750.20.

Silver traded up 2.7% Friday to $18.445, while copper rose 0.8% to $2.432.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.44%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.77%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.84%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.65%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.59% while UK shares fell 2.29%.

Economics

U.S. goods deficit increased to $69.68 billion in April, versus $64.99 billion in the earlier. Exports dipped 25.2% to $95.37 billion, while imports declined 14.3% to $165.05 billion.

U.S. personal income climbed 10.5% in April, versus a revised 2.2% decline in March. Personal spending dropped 13.6% in April, following a revised 6.9% drop in March.

U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in April, versus a revised 1% decline in March.

The Chicago PMI fell to 32.3 in May, versus a reading of 35.4 in April.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 72.3 in May, versus preliminary reading of 73.7.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 15 to 222 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.