Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Positive; Arcturus Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.30% to 30,158.65 while the NASDAQ rose 0.07% to 12,528.21. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17% to 3,698.38.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 14,955,020 cases with around 283,740 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,703,770 confirmed cases and 140,950 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,623,910 COVID-19 cases with 177,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 67,671,090 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,546,420 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gran Tierra Energy Inc. GTE, up 28%, and QEP Resources, Inc. QEP, up 13%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

AutoZone reported quarterly earnings of $18.61 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $17.77 per share. The company’s sales came in at $3.15 billion, versus expectations of $3.16 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. LXRX shares shot up 83% to $3.16 after Citigroup upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $2.1 to $6 per share.

Shares of Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX got a boost, shooting 44% to $51.58 after the company reported stronger-than-expected Q1 result. The company’s Q1 active clients were up 10% year over year. KeyBanc and Needham raised their price targets on the stock.

Curis, Inc. CRIS shares were also up, gaining 332% to $6.22 after the company announced "positive" preliminary data from an ongoing Phase 1 study of CA-4948 monotherapy in patients with leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

Equities Trading DOWN

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. ARCT shares tumbled 16% to $104.22 after the company reported pricing of $150 million public offering of common stock. Arcturus Therapeutics, on Monday, reported initiation of dosing ARCT-810 in patients with Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency.

Shares of Trillium Therapeutics Inc. TRIL were down 15% to $13.10. Trillium Therapeutics presented at the ASH conference with updated data for TTI-622, which is being evaluated as a monotherapy in patients with advanced relapsed or refractory lymphoma. The company also issued guidance for 2021.

Conn's, Inc. CONN was down, falling 18% to $11.45 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $45.59, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,871.80.

Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $24.65 while copper fell 0.9% to $3.4855.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.08%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.43%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.16%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.02%, French CAC 40 fell 0.21% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.09%.

The Eurozone economy expanded 12.5% in the third quarter, versus a record plunge of 11.7% in the earlier period. French payroll employment in the private sector rose 1.6% in the third quarter versus a preliminary estimate of 1.8% increase.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index dropped to 101.4 in November compared to 104.0 in the prior month.

US nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased by an annualized rate of 4.6% in the third quarter versus a 10.6% rise in the prior quarter. Unit labor costs dropped 6.6% in the quarter compared to a revised 12.3% increase in the previous period.

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.