Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Rises Over 2%; Unity Biotechnology Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.24% to 27862.87 while the NASDAQ rose 0.69% to 11,095.55. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.29% to 3,382.79.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 5,403,360 cases with around 170,050 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 3,340,190 COVID-19 cases with 107,850 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 2,647,660 confirmed cases and 50,920 deaths. In total, there were at least 21,698,510 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 775,620 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares gained 0.9% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RISE Education Cayman Ltd REDU, up 32%, and GrowGeneration Corp. GRWG, up 21%.

In trading on Monday, financial shares fell by 1.2%.

Top Headline

JD.Com Inc JD reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

JD.com reported quarterly earnings of $0.50 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $0.38 per share. The company’s sales came in at $28.46 billion, exceeding expectations of $27.45 billion.

Equities Trading UP

IMARA Inc. IMRA shares shot up 62% to $33.35. Citigroup upgraded Imara from Neutral to Buy and lowered the price target from $34 to $30. IMARA reported Q2 results on Friday.

Shares of LMP Automotive Holdings Inc LMPX got a boost, shooting 39% to $9.69 following Q2 results. The company’s earnings came in at $0.02 per share, while revenue jumped 44% to $7.716 million.

Stein Mart, Inc. SMRT shares were also up, gaining 53% to $0.1679 after dropping 11% on Friday. Stein Mart, last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Unity Biotechnology Inc UBX shares tumbled 61% to $4.8850 after the company announced the 12-week results from the Phase 2 study of UBX0101 failed to meet the primary endpoint.

Shares of Applied Therapeutics, Inc. APLT were down 17% to $24.39 after the company said it received letter from the FDA that placed a partial clinical hold on action-kids study.

Thermogenesis Holdings Inc THMO was down, falling 19% to $3.8390 after reporting Q2 results. Thermogenesis reported a Q2 net loss of $1.02 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.47 per share. Its net revenue dropped to $2.2 million from $4.3 million.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $42.44, while gold traded up 2.3% to $1,994.80.

Silver traded up 5.3% Monday to $27.475, while copper rose 1.3% to $2.897.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.36%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.93%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.30%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.22%, French CAC 40 rose 0.25% and UK shares rose 0.73%.

Economics

The New York Empire State manufacturing index declined to 3.7 in August, compared to 17.2 in July.

The NAHB’s housing market index increased 6 points to a reading of 78 in August.

The Treasury International Capital report for June will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.