Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Paychex Beats Q1 Views

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.30% to 28,234.08 while the NASDAQ rose 0.09% to 11,341.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.08% to 3,411.32.


The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,458,980 cases with around 210,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,685,080 confirmed cases and 103,560 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,927,230 COVID-19 cases with 146,670 deaths. In total, there were at least 35,519,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,044,630 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Financial shares jumped 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included FinVolution Group FINV, up 6%, and Futu Holdings Limited FUTU, up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell by 0.7%.


Top Headline


Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Paychex reported quarterly earnings of $0.63 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.55 per share. The company posted sales of $932.20 million, surpassing expectations of $895.38 million.

Paychex said it sees FY21 adjusted EPS down 6%-8% year over year.

 

Equities Trading UP


Westwater Resources, Inc. WWR shares shot up 41% to $11.70 after jumping over 87% on Monday. The company holds minerals rights for lithium and uranium deposits and strength appears related to momentum in lithium names amid EV battery interest.

Shares of Alteryx, Inc. AYX got a boost, shooting 28% to $146.22 after the company raised its sales guidance for the third quarter and announced Mark Anderson as new CEO.

Piedmont Lithium Limited PLL shares were also up, gaining 33% to $46.18. Piedmont Lithium shares jumped around 33% on Monday on continued strength after the company in late September announced it signed a sales agreement with Tesla.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Palomar Holdings, Inc. PLMR shares tumbled 19% to $87.65. Palomar Holdings said it expects pretax catastrophe losses of $34 million to $38 million, net of reinsurance, during the third quarter.

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd. AXGT were down 16% to $4.7475. Axovant reported positive six-month follow-up data from second cohort of SUNRISE-PD Phase 2 trial of AXO-Lenti-PD gene therapy.

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. IOVA was down, falling 16% to $26.82. Following a recent Type B meeting with the FDA, Iovance Biotherapeutics said it has not been able to agree with the FDA on the required potency assays to fully define its tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy lifileucel in metastatic melanoma, which is required as part of a BLA submission. Wells Fargo downgraded Iovance Biotherapeutics from Overweight to Equal-Weight and lowered the price target from $49 to $29.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $39.59, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,918.20.


Silver traded down 0.4% Tuesday to $24.455 while copper rose 0.1% to $2.9635.


Euro zone


European shares were mostly higher today after recording gains in the previous session. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.9%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 rose 0.4% and London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%.

German IHS Markit construction PMI declined to 45.5 in September versus a reading of 48 in August, while French construction PMI increased to 47.3 from prior month’s reading of 46.


Economics

The US trade gap widened to $67.1 billion in August versus a revised $63.4 billion in July.

US job openings fell to 6.493 million in August from prior reading of 6.618 million, the Labor Department reported.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 10:40 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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