Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Domino's Pizza Earnings Miss Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.29% to 28384.27 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 11408.88. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.50% to 3436.53.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,551,250 cases with around 211,840 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,835,650 confirmed cases and 105,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,000,690 COVID-19 cases with 148,220 deaths. In total, there were at least 36,200,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,056,490 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 1.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG, up 6%, and TechnipFMC plc FTI, up 4%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

Domino's Pizza, Inc. DPZ reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales surpassed views.

Domino's reported quarterly earnings of $2.49 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.78 per share. The company posted sales of $967.72 million, surpassing expectations of $952.97 million.

Domino's Pizza said global retail sales increased 14.4% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Eaton Vance Corp. EV shares shot up 47% to $60.18 after the company announced it will be acquired by Morgan Stanley MS for $7 billion.

Shares of Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. CPSS got a boost, shooting 41% to $4.74 after Auto Experience proposed to acquire the company for $135 million in cash.

Alphatec Holdings, Inc. ATEC shares were also up, gaining 35% to $9.28 after the company issued Q3 preliminary sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cytokinetics, Incorporated CYTK shares tumbled 42% to $15.99 after the company, Amgen and Servier announced topline results from GALACTIC-HF, a Phase 3 pivotal clinical trial of omecamtiv mecarbil in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. No reduction in the secondary endpoint of CV death was observed.

Shares of Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc. PPSI were down 18% to $5.66 after surging around 44% on Wednesday.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. OPTT was down, falling 18% to $2.4511 after climbing over 36% on Wednesday. Ocean Power Technologies, last month, announced a deal with Aspire Capital to sell up to $12.5 million of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $40.57, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,898.40.

Silver traded up 1% Thursday to $24.135 while copper fell 0.4% to $3.0205.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.7%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.7%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.8%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.7% and London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.06%.

Germany reported smallest trade surplus in three months, with surplus narrowing to EUR 12.8 billion in August versus EUR 16.4 billion in the year-ago month.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped to 840,000 in the week ended October 3 versus a revised 849,000 in the previous week.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren is set to speak at 12:10 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 30-year bonds 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 Richmond President Thomas Barkin will speak at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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