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

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.31% to 29,875.64 while the NASDAQ fell 0.27% to 11,867.75. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 3,611.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 11,360,120 cases with around 248,700 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,912,900 confirmed cases and 130,990 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,911,750 COVID-19 cases with 166,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 55,714,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,339,820 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Weidai Ltd. WEI, up 3%, and Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corporation. WMC, up 6%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Target posted quarterly earnings of $2.79 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.60 per share. The company posted quarterly sales of $22.60 billion, surpassing expectations of $20.93 billion.

Target’s comparable sales climbed 20.7% during the quarter, while digital comparable sales jumped 155%.

 

Equities Trading UP

Phoenix Tree Holdings Limited DNK shares shot up 79% to $4.30 after jumping around 75%on Tuesday.

Shares of Micro Focus International plc MFGP got a boost, shooting 28% to $4.75.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. AHT shares were also up, gaining 25% to $5.55.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

PaySign, Inc. PAYS shares tumbled 32% to $4.19 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 earnings. DA Davidson downgraded PaySign from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $9 to $6.

Shares of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. ONCT were down 30% to $2.8938 after the company announced an increase in its previously announced bought deal offering to 7.25 million shares at $3.10 per share.

CBAK Energy Technology, Inc. CBAT was down, falling 22% to $7.55. CBAK Energy Technology entered into cancellation agreement with creditor who loaned aggregate of RMB$72 million to unit, Reuters reported.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $41.72, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,873.60.

Silver traded down 0.6% Wednesday to $24.505 while copper rose 0.8% to $3.2250.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 rose 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 0.7% in October from 0.5% in September, while producer prices fell 1.4% year-over-year in October.

Economics

Housing starts rose 4.9% to an annual rate of 1.53 million units in October, while building permits were unchanged at 1.545 million.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 12:15 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 20-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 1:20 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.