Mid-Day Market Update: Eaton Vance Jumps Following Acquisition News; Cytokinetics Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.50% to 28446.36 while the NASDAQ rose 0.41% to 11,411.66. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.68% to 3,442.80.

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 2.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG, up 9%, and Crestwood Equity Partners LP CEQP, up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares rose by just 0.1%.

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 48% to $60.56 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 35% to $4.5126 after Auto Experience proposed to acquire the company for $135 million in cash.

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. AGE shares were also up, gaining 260% to $3.035 following an amended 13D filing showing Juvenescence Limited has a 50% stake in the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cytokinetics, Incorporated CYTK shares tumbled 43% to $15.75 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. The company reported no reduction in the secondary endpoint of CV death was observed.

Shares of Helen of Troy Limited HELE were down 8% to $189.60. Helen of Troy reported upbeat Q2 results. However, the company deferred initiation of fiscal 2021 outlook due to uncertainty from COVID-19 pandemic.

Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI was down, falling 8% to $104.11. Acuity Brands posted upbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.5% to $40.95, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,891.50.

Silver traded up 0.4% Thursday to $23.980 while copper rose 0.2% to $3.0380.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.41%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 1.15%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.94% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.78%.

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.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 75 billion cubic feet for the week ended October 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 71 billion cubic feet.

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.