Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Surges Over 100 Points; Eastman Kodak Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.25% to 26445.34 while the NASDAQ rose 1.11% to 10,517.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.82% to 3,244.90.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,352,300 cases with around 149,260 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,483,190 COVID-19 cases with 88,530 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,531,660 confirmed cases and 34,190 deaths. In total, there were at least 16,762,600 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 661,010 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eastman Kodak Company KODK, up 309%, and Arlo Technologies, Inc. ARLO, up 30%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter.

General Motors posted a quarterly loss of $0.50 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates for a loss of $1.77 per share. The company reported sales of $16.80 billion, missing expectations of $17.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Eastman Kodak Company KODK shares shot up 306% to $32.20 following comments by President Trump indicating the US has reached a 'historic' deal with the company to produce critical pharmaceuticals. Eastman Kodak shares jumped over 200% on Tuesday after the company announced it is pivoting to drug ingredient development and announced a large government loan.

Shares of Sonoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNOA got a boost, shooting 65% to $10.76. Sonoma Pharmaceuticals and its distribution partner MicroSafe Group Dubai announced that Microsafe Disinfectant & Sanitizer manufactured by Sonoma successfully passed both the Boeing Specification Standard BSS7434 and the British Aerospace Airbus specification AIMS09-00-002.

Tupperware Brands Corporation TUP shares were also up, gaining 55% to $14.95 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results. Melvin Capital Management also reported a 7.5% passive stake in the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Boxlight Corporation BOXL shares tumbled 24% to $2.1750 after the company reported a proposed public offering of 15 million shares of common stock at $2 per share.

Shares of Alector, Inc. ALEC were down 28% to $15.38. Alector announced at the virtual 2020 Alzheimer's Association International Conference, or AAIC, preliminary results from a Phase 1b and open-label Phase 2 studies of AL001 for the treatment of people with frontotemporal dementia with a progranulin gene mutation, or FTD-GRN, with the Phase 1 study showing AL001 was generally safe and well-tolerated.

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNSS was down, falling 28% to $0.2857 after the company reported pricing of $12 million offering at $0.23 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $41.43, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,951.30.

Silver traded down 0.2% Wednesday to $24.245, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.9215.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.01%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.16%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.01%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.8% and UK shares rose 0.12%.

Economics

The US trade deficit on goods shrank to $70.64 billion in June, compared to a revised $75.26 billion in the earlier month.

U.S. wholesale inventories dropped 2% to $629.6 billion in June.

The pending home sales index increased 6.3% year-over-year in June after declining 5.1% in the prior month.

U.S. crude inventories dropped 10.6 million barrels for the week ended July 24, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a fall of 1.2 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub rose around 1.3 million barrels. Gasoline supply gained 700,000 barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles climbed 500,000 barrels.

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.