Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles 700 Points; Big Lots Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 2.72% to 25,044.16 while the NASDAQ fell 2.18% to 9798.57. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.19% to 3016.20.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,422,310 cases with around 124,410 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 1,228,110 COVID-19 cases with 54,970 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 619,930 confirmed cases and 8,770 deaths. In total, there were at least 9,628,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 489,730 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares slipped by just 0.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. ASPS, up 7%, and Phoenix Tree Holdings Limited DNK, up 5%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 3.8%.

Top Headline

Nike Inc NKE reported a loss for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Nike posted a quarterly loss of $790 million, or $0.51 per share, versus a year-earlier profit of $989 million, or $0.62 per share. Its sales tumbled to $6.3 billion from $10.1 billion. Analysts expected sales of $7.3 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT shares shot up 41% to $8.84 after two announcements tied to coronavirus vaccine development. The South San Francisco, California-based company said its oral COVID-19 vaccine has been selected to participate in a non-human primate challenge study, or animal study, organized and funded by Operation Warp Speed. On Thursday, Vaxart said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Attwill Medical Solutions Sterilflow that will enable the latter to provide lyophilization development and large-scale manufacturing, including tableting and enteric coating, for Vaxart's COVID-19 vaccine.

Shares of MDC Partners Inc. MDCA got a boost, shooting 107% to $2.38 after the company announced the formation of a special committee to evaluate potential business combination with Stagwell.

Big Lots, Inc. BIG shares were also up, gaining 28% to $43.29. Big Lots said it expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $2.75 per share and Q2 comps growth in mid-to-high twenties percent range.

Equities Trading DOWN

Luckin Coffee Inc. LK shares tumbled 54% to $1.39 after the company announced the withdrawal of its request for a Nasdaq hearing. The company's shares will be suspended at the open of business on June 29.

Shares of Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. SHIP were down 39% to $0.17 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results.

Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON was down, falling 38% to $1.12 after the company reported pricing of $2.1 million registered direct offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $38.29, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,781.00.

Silver traded up 0.6% Friday to $17.995, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.666.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.39%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.26%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.57%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.73%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.18% and UK shares rose 0.2%.

Economics

US personal spending rose 8.2% in May, while personal income fell 4.2% in May.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 78.1 in June, versus a preliminary reading of 78.9.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 1 to 188 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.