Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Gold Falls Over 1%; T2 Biosystems Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.03% to 25,803.55 while the NASDAQ rose 0.97% to 10,154.88. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.59% to 3,118.70.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,636,530 cases with around 127,420 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 1,402,040 COVID-19 cases with 59,590 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 653,470 confirmed cases and 9,520 deaths. In total, there were at least 10,498,090 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 511,850 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 2.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Realty Investors, Inc. ARL, up 8%, and Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. IIPR, up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares slipped 2.1%.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

General Mills posted quarterly earnings of $1.10 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.06 per share. The company reported sales of $5.02 billion, exceeding expectations of $4.96 billion.

Equities Trading UP

T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO shares shot up 29% to $1.64 after the company announced the U.S. launch of the T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel, its COVID-19 molecular diagnostic test. Separately, the company pre-announced second-quarter results and said it expects revenues of $2.4 million to $2.6 million versus $1.8 million in the year-ago period, while analysts estimate revenues of $2.45 million.

Shares of YRC Worldwide Inc. YRCW got a boost, shooting 71% to $3.16 after the company announced it expects to receive a $700 million loan from the United States Department of the Treasury under the CARES Act.

MYOS RENS Technology Inc. MYOS shares were also up, gaining 275% to $3.30 after the company announced late Tuesday that it has agreed to a combination with MedAvail, Inc. in a reverse merger. Under the merger agreement, a wholly owned subsidiary of Myos will merge with and into MedAvail, with MedAvail being the surviving corporation. Myos said the combined company will focus on advancing MedAvail's network of in-clinic pharmacies within Medicare sites across the U.S. Myos' muscle health business will be spun off as a private unaffiliated company, according to the press release.

Equities Trading DOWN

TransEnterix, Inc. TRXC shares tumbled 31% to $0.3759 after the company reported the launch of underwritten public offering of common stock.

Shares of Therapix Biosciences Ltd. TRPX were down 47% to $0.3311 after the company announced it has received a notice of delisting and injunction from Israeli Court.

Gevo, Inc. GEVO was down, falling 38% to $0.4957 after the company reported the pricing of $18.0 million upsized public offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $39.68, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,778.00.

Silver traded down 2.2% Wednesday to $18.22, while copper rose 0.3% to $2.7355.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.24%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.06%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.23%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 0.41%, French CAC 40 fell 0.18% and UK shares fell 0.19%.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 2.37 million jobs during June, according to the Automatic Data Processing Inc. However, economists were expecting an increase of 3.5 million jobs.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 49.8 in June versus a preliminary reading of 49.6.

The ISM manufacturing PMI climbed to 52.6 in June versus 43.1 in May.

U.S. construction spending dropped 2.1% to an annual rate of $1.36 trillion in May.

U.S. crude inventories dropped 7.2 million barrels for the week ended June 26, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a fall of 2.7 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub slipped around 200,000 barrels. Gasoline supply gained 1.2 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles dropped 600,000 barrels.

The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of its latest meeting.