Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; McKesson Beats Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 2.09% to 27,488.40 while the NASDAQ rose 1.63% to 11,136.04. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.75% to 3,368.27.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 9,293,280 cases with around 231,560 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,267,620 confirmed cases and 123,090 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,554,200 COVID-19 cases with 160,250 deaths. In total, there were at least 46,956,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,207,760 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares climbed 2.3% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. IEA, up 15%, and Plug Power Inc. PLUG, up 10%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

McKesson Corporation MCK reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised FY21 earnings guidance.

McKesson reported quarterly earnings of $4.80 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.87 per share. The company posted sales of $60.81 billion, surpassing expectations of $59.42 billion.

McKesson raised its FY21 adjusted EPS guidance from $14.70-$15.50 to $16-$16.50.

Equities Trading UP

Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. INSP shares shot up 24% to $151.26 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results. Oppenheimer upgraded Inspire Medical from Underperform to Perform

Shares of Telenav, Inc. TNAV got a boost, shooting 20% to $4.77 after the company agreed to be acquired by V99 for $4.80 per share in cash in a go private transaction. The company also reported Q1 results.

Arista Networks, Inc. ANET shares were also up, gaining 19% to $257.04 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and also issued strong Q4 sales guidance. B of A Securities upgraded Arista Networks from Neutral to Buy and announced a $270 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. SEDG shares tumbled 21% to $210.36
after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales and also issued downbeat Q4 sales guidance. Oppenheimer downgraded SolarEdge Technologies from Outperform to Perform

Shares of OneSpan Inc. OSPN were down 15% to $19.17 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and issued weak FY20 sales guidance.

Intrepid Potash, Inc. IPI was down, falling 16% to $9.35 after the company announced Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.2% to $37.99, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,900.90.

Silver traded up 1.1% Tuesday to $24.285 while copper rose 0.5% to $3.0920.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 climbed 1.7%, French CAC 40 rose 1.9% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.7%.

UK’s manufacturing activity improved to 53.7 in October, beating the consensus of 53.3, while French government budget deficit widened to EUR 161.6 billion in the first nine months of the year versus EUR 109 billion in the year-ago period.

Economics

US factory orders rose 1.1% for September, versus analysts’ expectations for a 1% increase.

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