Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 1%; Kforce Shares Climb On Upbeat Q2 Results

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.06% to 28085.22 while the NASDAQ fell 0.22% to 10,944.77. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.45% to 3,375.46.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 5,094,560 cases with around 163,460 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 3,057,470 COVID-19 cases with 101,750 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 2,268,670 confirmed cases and 45,250 deaths. In total, there were at least 20,092,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 736,250 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares gained 2.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MVC Capital, Inc. MVC, up 17%, and Redwood Trust, Inc. RWT, up 10%.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

SYSCO Corporation SYY reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter.

Sysco posted a Q2 loss of $0.29 per share, narrower than analysts’ estimates for a loss of $0.30 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $8.90 billion, missing expectations of $9.52 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Pfenex Inc. PFNX shares shot up 67% to $12.76 after the company announced it will be acquired by Ligand for $12 per share in cash.

Shares of Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited OXBR got a boost, shooting 60% to $1.87 after the company swung to a profit in the second quarter. Oxbridge Re Holdings posted Q2 earnings of $0.03 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.04 per share.

Kforce Inc. KFRC shares were also up, gaining 30% to $41.32 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and also issued strong Q3 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc FULC shares tumbled 46% to $9.26 after the company posted a Q2 loss of $0.66 per share and announced interim analysis data from its ReDUX4 trial in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Shares of Mesoblast limited MESO were down 33% to $11.68. The company has an FDA Advisory Committee meeting on August 13th to review data supporting its Biologics License Application for approval of RYONCIL for children.

Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc FENC was down, falling 35% to $6.61 after the company announced it has received a response from the FDA for PEDMARK NDA indicating identified deficiencies with the facility of the drug product manufacturer, which require resolution prior to PEDMARK approval.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $42.07, while gold traded down 4.5% to $1,947.00.

Silver traded down 10.2% Tuesday to $26.285, while copper rose 0.6% to $2.8785.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.68%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.97%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 2.84%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 2.04%, French CAC 40 rose 2.41% and UK shares rose 1.71%.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index declined to 98.8 in July versus 100.6 in the prior month.

The Producer Price Index increased 0.6% in July following a 0.2% drop in June.