Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Jumps 150 Points; Anaplan Shares Gain Following Q2 Results

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 28,248.94 while the NASDAQ rose 1.33% to 11,619.27. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.68% to 3,467.14.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 5,779,390 cases with around 178,530 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 3,669,990 COVID-19 cases with 116,580 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 3,234,470 confirmed cases and 59,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 23,925,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 820,190 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares gained 2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Fluent, Inc. FLNT, up 21%, and Gogo Inc. GOGO, up 8%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc DKS reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Dicks Sporting Goods reported quarterly earnings of $3.21 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.26 per share. The company reported sales of $2.71 billion, also surpassing expectations of $2.45 billion. The company’s e-commerce sales climbed 194% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Anaplan, Inc. PLAN shares shot up 29% to $61.51 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued strong Q3 sales guidance.

Shares of Fluidigm Corporation FLDM got a boost, shooting 29% to $11.37 after the company announced it has received emergency use authorization from the FDA for the Advanta Dx SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Assay, an extraction-free saliva-based test to detect nucleic acid from COVID-19.

salesforce.com, inc. CRM shares were also up, gaining 27% to $273.70 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and also issued strong FY21 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Garrett Motion Inc. GTX shares tumbled 41% to $4.07. Garrett Motion said it is exploring alternatives for balance sheet restructuring.

Shares of CohBar, Inc. CWBR were down 31% to $0.9897 after the company announced a proposed public offering of common stock and warrants.

XpresSpa Group, Inc. XSPA was down, falling 16% to $2.77 after the company announced a $35.5 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $43.42, while gold traded up 1.5% to $1,951.40.

Silver traded up 3.4% Wednesday to $27.16, while copper rose 1% to $2.963.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.91%, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.21%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.54%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.98%, French CAC 40 rose 0.8% and UK shares rose 0.14%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders increased 11.2% for July, versus analysts’ expectations for a 4.3% rise.

U.S. crude inventories dropped 4.7 million barrels for the week ended August 21, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting for a decline of 4.3 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub slipped around 300,000 barrels. Gasoline supply dropped 4.6 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles climbed 1.4 million barrels.

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 3:25 p.m. ET.