Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Rises 100 Points; Idera Pharmaceuticals Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.40% to 32,731.95 while the NASDAQ rose 0.78% to 13,217.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23% to 3,924.40.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,667,750 cases with around 539,690 deaths. Brazil reported over 11,780,820 COVID-19 cases with 287,490 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 11,514,330 cases and 159,370 deaths. In total, there were at least 121,882,440 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,692,800 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included comScore, Inc. SCOR, up 8%, and Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. TV, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

FedEx Corporation FDX reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and also issued strong earnings forecast for the year.

FedEx reported quarterly earnings of $3.47 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $3.24 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $21.50 billion, versus expectations of $19.96 billion.

FedEx said it expects FY21 EPS of $17.60-$18.20, versus analysts’ estimates of $17.40.

Equities Trading UP

Clovis Oncology, Inc. CLVS shares shot up 48% to $7.86 after the company announced its Rubraca significantly improves PFS versus chemotherapy in patients with later-line ovarian cancer associated with a BRCA mutation.

Shares of SenesTech, Inc. SNES got a boost, shooting 37% to $2.30 after the company announced the conclusion of agricultural deployments of ContraPest with demonstrated, sustained success in reducing rat populations and improving operating economies in poultry settings.

Marker Therapeutics, Inc. MRKR shares were also up, gaining 43% to $2.5684 after Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on the stock with an Overweight rating and announced a $6 price target. The company’s CEO Peter Hoang reported purchase of 142,857 shares, while Director John Wilson also reported purchase of 1,714,285 shares in Form 4 filing.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. IDRA shares tumbled 61% to $2.01 after the biopharmaceutical company said its lead drug candidate Tilsotolimod failed to meet the primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial for anti-PD-1 refractory advanced melanoma. JP Morgan and HC Wainwright & Co. downgraded the stock to Neutral.

Shares of NuZee, Inc. NUZE were down 21% to $4.03 after the company priced its underwritten public offering of units at $4.50 per unit.

LightInTheBox Holding Co., Ltd. LITB was down, falling 12% to $3.245 after the company reported Q4 earnings results and issued Q1 guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.5% to $61.53, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,742.20.

Silver traded down 0.3% Friday to $26.28 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.1120.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.76%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.53% and the German DAX 30 dropped 1.05%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 1.07%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.05% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.66%.

Germany's producer prices rose 1.9% year-over-year in February, while construction output in Italy slipped 1.5% year-over-year in January.

Economics

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 9 to 318 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Check out the full economic calendar here