Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; General Electric Tops Q3 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 1.68% to 27,001.52 while the NASDAQ fell 2.05% to 11,197.31. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.79% to 3,330.02.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,779,990 cases with around 226,730 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,990,320 confirmed cases and 120,010 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,439,640 COVID-19 cases with 157,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 44,067,580 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,168,690 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares slipped by just 0.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Edison International EIX, up 1.2%, and American Electric Power Company, Inc. AEP, up 1%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares tumbled 3.8%.

Top Headline

General Electric Company GE reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

General Electric reported quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for a loss of $0.04 per share. The company posted sales of $19.40 billion, surpassing expectations of $18.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Applied UV, Inc. AUVI shares shot up 59% to $10.13 as the company reported an exclusive license and joint development agreement with Axis Lighting, Inc to commercialize LED-based technologies in UV-C devices to inactivate pathogens on surfaces in hospital market.

Shares of Community Health Systems, Inc. CYH got a boost, shooting 29% to $5.68 after the company reported strong Q3 results.

Tupperware Brands Corporation TUP shares were also up, gaining 25% to $26.64 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akerna Corp. KERN shares tumbled 22% to $2.2850 as the company priced its 5 million share common stock offering at $2.40 per share.

Shares of Callaway Golf Company ELY were down 18% to $15.81 after the company reported a deal to buy Topgolf in an all-stock deal, valued at $2 billion.

Summit Materials, Inc. SUM was down, falling 17% to $15.64 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.2% to $37.51, while gold traded down 1.7% to $1,880.20.

Silver traded down 4.6% Wednesday to $23.445 while copper fell 1.1% to $3.0605.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 3.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 3.7%, French CAC 40 fell 3.2% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.3%.

Spain's retail sales dropped 3.3% year-over-year in September, while French consumer confidence declined to 94 in October from 95 in September.

Economics

The goods gap in the US shrank to $79.37 billion in September versus $83.1 billion in August.

Wholesale inventories dropped 0.1% in September.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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