Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Gold Rises 1%; Verb Technology Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.31% to 26923.91 while the NASDAQ fell 0.09% to 10670.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.26% to 3,265.71.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 3,902,230 cases with around 142,070 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,159,650 COVID-19 cases with 81,480 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,193,070 confirmed cases and 28,730 deaths. In total, there were at least 14,974,440 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 617,250 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais CIG, up 10%, and Sunnova Energy International Inc. NOVA, up 6%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.7%.

Top Headline

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Thermo Fisher Scientific posted quarterly earnings of $3.89 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.84 per share. The company reported sales of $6.92 billion, also exceeding expectations of $6.13 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Mexco Energy Corporation MXC shares shot up 215% to $11.50 after jumping over 18% on Tuesday.

Shares of Oragenics, Inc. OGEN got a boost, shooting 15% to $1.57 after the company said its preclinical study showed that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein licensed by the company from NIH produces neutralizing antibodies.

Blink Charging Co. BLNK shares were also up, gaining 21% to $7.36 after the company was awarded a grant to deploy 200 charging stations across the mid-atlantic region.

Equities Trading DOWN

FirstEnergy Corp. FE shares tumbled 19% to $27.77 after the company issued a statement on Tuesday on the HB 6 investigation, saying 'We are reviewing the details of the investigation and we intend to fully cooperate.' Several firms, including ScotiaBank, Guggenheim, Evercore ISI Group and KeyBanc also downgraded the company's stock.

Shares of Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. ENT were down 32% to $2.28 after the company reached an agreement on definitive asset purchase agreement with substantial majority of senior secured first-lien term loan investors.

Verb Technology Company, Inc. VERB was down, falling 28% to $1.1450 after the company priced its 10.9 million share underwritten public offering at $1.10 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $41.79, while gold traded up 1% to $1,862.80.

Silver traded up 6.4% Wednesday to $22.94, while copper fell 1.2% to $2.924.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.87%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.39%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.51%, French CAC 40 dropped 1.32% and UK shares fell 1%.

Economics

The FHFA house price index fell 0.3% in May, versus a revised 0.1% rise in April.

U.S. existing home sales surged 20.7% to an annual rate of 4.72 million units in June.

U.S. crude inventories gained 4.9 million barrels for the week ended July 17, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a drop of 1.9 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub rose around 1.4 million barrels. Gasoline supply declined 1.8 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles rose 1.1 million barrels.