Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Paychex Tops Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.50% to 26,156.80 while the NASDAQ rose 0.43% to 10,478.83. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.05% to 3,178.27.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,938,620 cases with around 130,300 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 1,623,280 COVID-19 cases with 65,480 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 719,660 confirmed cases and 20,150 deaths. In total, there were at least 11,645,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 538,780 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MaxLinear, Inc. MXL, up 14%, and Wrap Technologies, Inc. WRTC, up 7%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Paychex reported quarterly earnings of $0.61 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.60 per share. The company reported sales of $951.10 million, exceeding expectations of $910.91 million.

Paychex said it expects FY21 adjusted EPS to drop 6%-10% year-over-year and sales to drop 2%-5% year-over-year.

Equities Trading UP

Annovis Bio, Inc. ANVS shares shot up 128% to $8.76 after the company received Central Institutional Review Board approval to initiate 15 site Phase 2 study in 68 Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients.

Shares of Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CRVS got a boost, shooting 124% to $6.14 following an announcement concerning its foray into COVID-19 treatment. The company said the FDA has reviewed and accepted its investigational new drug application for initiating a COVID-19 study. Accordingly, the company said it has initiated a Phase 1 study to investigate a novel immunotherapy approach for patients with COVID-19.

Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. HEPA shares were also up, gaining 38% to $3.975 after the company reported preclinical data supporting novel two-pronged approach to treat COVID-19 with CRV431.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. SINO shares tumbled 23% to $2.2350 following Q3 results. Sino-Global Shipping posted a quarterly loss of $0.22 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.09 per share.

Shares of Evolus, Inc. EOLS were down 29% to $3.773 after the company announced a administrative law judge will be overseeing the United States international trade commission case filed by Allergan and Medytox. The Judge released an initial determination finding a violation Section 337 Of The Tariff Act Of 1930. Evolus said its strategic partner, Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., will invest $40 million in a five-year, unsecured, subordinated, 3% convertible note issued by the company at a conversion price of $13, which represents a 144% premium to the July 6 closing price. The investment will be funded before July 31, the company said.

Remark Holdings, Inc. MARK was down, falling 24% to $1.96 after the company reported Q1 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $40.04, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,784.00.

Silver traded down 1.7% Tuesday to $18.275, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.751.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 1.2%, French CAC 40 slipped 1.1% and UK shares fell 1.3%.

Economics

The number of job openings climbed by 401,000 to 5.397 million in May, the Labor Department reported.

The IBD/TIPP economic optimism index dropped to 44 in July versus 47 in June.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.