Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 175 Points; Pinterest Shares Climb Following Strong Results

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.67% to 26137 while the NASDAQ rose 0.30% to 10619.12. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38% to 3,233.91.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,495,220 cases with around 152,070 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,610,100 COVID-19 cases with 91,260 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,638,320 confirmed cases and 35,740 deaths. In total, there were at least 17,321,390 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 673,820 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares gained 1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Superior Group of Companies, Inc. SGC, up 14%, and Jumia Technologies AG JMIA, up 13%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled by 2.4%.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and announced a four-for-one stock split.

The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.58 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $2.04 per share. Revenue jumped 11% year-over-year to $59.7 billion, exceeding the consensus expectations of $52.25 billion.

Apple's flagship product, the iPhone, fetched revenues of $26.42 billion, contributing 44.3% to the top-line. Mac, iPad and wearables, home and accessories accounted for $7.08 billion, $6.58 billion and $6.45 billion of revenues, respectively.

Equities Trading UP

Pinterest, Inc. PINS shares shot up 30% to $32.77 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and reported a 39% year-over-year surge in global monthly active users.

Shares of Tiziana Life Sciences PLC TLSA got a boost, shooting 66% to $8.19 after the company said it has submitted a patent application for the potential use of nasally administered Foralumab, a fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of COVID-19, either alone or in combination with other anti-viral drugs.

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. ZN shares were also up, gaining 92% to $0.5241 after the company disclosed that it has received drilling plan approval for next well in Israel.

Equities Trading DOWN

Precipio, Inc. PRPO shares tumbled 49% to $3.59. Precipio shares jumped 469% on Thursday after the company reported the commercial launch of coronavirus antibody test.

Shares of SM Energy Company SM were down 24% to $2.66 after the company reported downbeat quarterly sales. The company also reported a loss for the second quarter.

Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT was down, falling 29% to $1.66 after the company reported after the company reported a Q2 loss of $0.13 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $0.02 per share

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $39.76, while gold traded up 2.2% to $1,985.50
.

Silver traded up 3.3% Friday to $24.14, while copper fell 1.4% to $2.874.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.89%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.71%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.54%, French CAC 40 fell 1.43% and UK shares fell 1.54%.

Economics

US personal income fell 1.1% in June, versus a revised 4.4% decline in May. Personal spending climbed 5.6% in June following a revised 8.5% increase in May.

The employment cost index increased 0.5% for the second quarter, versus analysts’ expectations for a 0.6% rise.

The Chicago PMI increased by 15.3 points to a reading of 51.9 in July.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 72.5 in July, versus a preliminary estimate of 73.2.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 1 to 180 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Data on farm prices for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.