Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Falls 2%; FSD Pharma Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.69% to 26177.59 while the NASDAQ rose 0.59% to 9665.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.20% to 3117.69.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,831,820 cases with around 106,180 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 555,380 COVID-19 cases with 31,190 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 431,710 confirmed cases and 5,200 deaths. In total, there were at least 6,399,870 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 380,660 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 4.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc. GPMT, up 15%, and TPG RE Finance Trust Inc TRTX, up 15%.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Campbell Soup Company CPB reported upbeat results for its third quarter, and raised its FY20 guidance.

Campbell posted quarterly earnings of $0.83 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.71 per share. The company reported sales of $2.24 billion, missing the consensus views of $2.17 billion.

Campbell Soup raised its FY20 adjusted EPS guidance from $2.55-$2.60 to $2.87-$2.92.

Equities Trading UP

FSD Pharma Inc. HUGE shares shot up 195% to $9.16 following an announcement regarding a potential COVID-19 drug. FSD said the FDA has approved its IND application for studying FSD-201 for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. FSD-201, according to the company, is ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide, or PEA.

Shares of Secoo Holding Limited SECO got a boost, shooting 56% to $3.36. Qudian and Secoo announced they have entered into an investment and strategic partnership.

Cassava Sciences, Inc. SAVA shares were also up, gaining 61% to $3.28 ahead of the company's presentation at the Jefferies Virtual Healthcare Conference today. The company also provided updates regarding its Phase 2b Study of PTI-125.

Equities Trading DOWN

Evofem Biosciences, Inc. EVFM shares tumbled 25% to $3.48 after the company announced a proposed public offering of 28.5 million shares of common stock at $3.50 per share.

Shares of Ameri Holdings, Inc. AMRH were down 20% to $2.29 after the company priced its $1.725 million registered direct offering at the market with no specific price disclosed.

InspireMD, Inc. NSPR was down, falling 36% to $0.4114 after the company announced a 22.2222 million unit offering priced at $0.45 per unit.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $37.03, while gold traded down 2% to $1,699.40.

Silver traded down 2.2% Wednesday to $17.855, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.495.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.39%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.77%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 3.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 3.68%, French CAC 40 rose 3.11% and UK shares rose 2.53%.

Economics

Private-sector businesses fired 2.76 million workers for May, after shedding 19.56 million in April.

The IHS/Markit services PMI rose to 37.5 in May versus a record low of 26.7 for April.

U.S. factory orders dropped 13.0% in April, versus a revised 11.0% decline in March.

The ISM non-manufacturing PMI rose to 45.4 in May, versus a reading of 41.8 in the prior month.

U.S. crude inventories declined 2.1 million barrels for the week ended May 29,the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 3.5 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., storage hub dipped around 1.8 million barrels last week. Gasoline supply climbed 2.8 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles rose 9.9 million barrels.