Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Kraft Heinz Beats Q3 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.07% to 26,537.65 while the NASDAQ rose 0.97% to 11,111.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39% to 3,283.82.


The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,859,430 cases with around 227,700 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,040,200 confirmed cases and 120,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,468,270 COVID-19 cases with 158,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 44,583,820 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,175,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors


Communication services shares climbed 1.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pinterest, Inc. PINS, up 37%, and Criteo S.A. CRTO, up 18%.


In trading on Thursday, health care shares tumbled 1%.


Top Headline


Kraft Heinz Co KHC reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.


Kraft Heinz reported quarterly earnings of $0.70 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.62 per share. The company posted sales of $6.44 billion, surpassing expectations of $6.31 billion.


Kraft Heinz raised its FY20 organic net sales growth guidance to high single digit range.

 


Equities Trading UP


Universal Security Instruments, Inc. UUU shares shot up 122% to $4.47 after the company announced it received a letter from 9.9% stakeholder Activist Investing threatening shareholder action to prevent delisting and bankruptcy.


Shares of Pinterest, Inc. PINS got a boost, shooting 39% to $68.50 after the company reported better-than-projected Q3 results. MKM Partners and JP Morgan upgraded the stock.


Inphi Corporation IPHI shares were also up, gaining 24% to $137.07 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings and also issued strong Q4 guidance. Marvell Technology Group announced plans to buy Inphi in a cash and stock transaction.

 

 


Equities Trading DOWN

Tricida, Inc. TCDA shares tumbled 54% to $3.8406 as the company issued an update from end-of-review Type A meeting with the FDA.


Shares of Cancer Genetics, Inc. CGIX were down 35% to $2.2350 after the company announced a $2 million bought deal offering priced at $2.20 per share.


Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 25% to $4.938 after the company reported Q3 results and issued weak Q4 sales guidance.

 

 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 4.1% to $35.86, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,874.40.


Silver traded down 0.9% Thursday to $23.15 while copper fell 0.5% to $3.0480.


Euro zone


European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.8%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 0.9% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%.

German unemployment rate came in unchanged at 4.5% in September from the previous month.

 

Economics

The US economy expanded by an annualized rate of 33.1% in the third quarter, versus analysts’ expectations for a 31% growth.


US initial jobless claims fell to 751,000 in the week ended October 24, versus revised reading of 791,000 in the previous week.


Pending home sales climbed 20.5% year-over-year in September.


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.


The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.


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

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