Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Owens Corning Tops Q4 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.20% to 31,458.13 while the NASDAQ fell 1.15% to 13,885.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.55% to 3,911.07.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 27,757,500 cases with around 488,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,937,320 confirmed cases and 155,910 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,921,980 COVID-19 cases with 240,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 109,604,770 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,421,280 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Energy shares rose 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ur-Energy Inc. URG, up 11%, and Newpark Resources, Inc. NR, up 9%.


In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell by 1.6%.


Top Headline

Owens Corning KO reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Owens Corning reported quarterly earnings of $1.90 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.38 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.90 billion, versus expectations of $1.80 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP


CLPS Incorporation CLPS shares shot up 287% to $18.87 after the company said its technology subsidiary signed vendor deal with US digital payment platform to provide IT services.


Shares of Comstock Mining Inc. LODE got a boost, shooting 214% to $7.06 following news the company secured a majority interest in a lithium-ion battery recycling company. Comstock plans to process 10,000 tons of lithium-ion per year into 99.9% pure lithium-ion cathodes for clean energy usage.

TDH Holdings, Inc. PETZ shares were also up, gaining 166% to $8.33 after jumping more than 25% on Tuesday.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Amplitech Group, Inc. AMPG shares tumbled 63% to $6.70 after the company reported pricing of $9.6 million public offering.

Shares of Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT were down 33% to $13.76. Socket Mobile shares jumped over 538% on Tuesday after the company announced the launch of its DuraSled barcode scanner for the iPhone 12.

Pyxis Tankers Inc. PXS was down, falling 27% to $2.15 after the company announced a $25 million private placement of common stock at $1.75 per share.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $60.95, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,789.10.


Silver traded down 0.4% Wednesday to $27.21 while copper fell 0.4% to $3.8195.


Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5% and the German DAX 30 slipped 0.5%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.8%.

Eurozone construction output in fell 2.3% year-over-year in December. Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 0.7% in January from 0.6% in December, while producer prices fell 0.2% year-on-year in January.


Economics


The Producer Price Index rose 1.3% for January.


Retail sales in the US climbed 5.3% in January.


US industrial production rose 0.9% for January.


US business inventories increased 0.6% for December.


The NAHB housing market index rose 1 point to 84 in February.


The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.


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


Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

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