Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Walgreens Reports Mixed Q2 Results

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.05% to 33,050.03 while the NASDAQ rose 1.50% to 13,240.94. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.45% to 3,976.32.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 30,394,180 cases with around 550,990 deaths. Brazil reported over 12,658,100 COVID-19 cases with 317,640 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 12,149,330 cases and 162,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 128,301,660 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,805,970 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MicroVision, Inc. MVIS, up 10%, and Kopin Corporation KOPN, up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.

Walgreens posted quarterly continuing operations adjusted earnings of $1.26 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.11 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $32.80 billion, versus expectations of $35.53 billion.

Walgreens raised FY21 EPS guidance to mid-to-high single digit growth.

Equities Trading UP

Discovery, Inc. DISCB shares shot up 53% to $107.15 after climbing around 29% on Tuesday.

Shares of Wah Fu Education Group Limited WAFU got a boost, shooting 49% to $12.35 after the company swung to a profit in the first half of fiscal year 2021.

Liquid Media Group Ltd. YVR shares were also up, gaining 32% to $4.52. Liquid Media said it will create multi-token IP platform in partnership with CurrencyWorks.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

The9 Limited NCTY shares tumbled 27% to $30.17 after the company reported pricing of 3,765,100 ADS bought deal offering at $33.20 per ADS.

Shares of VirTra, Inc. VTSI were down 26% to $5.90. VirTra shares jumped over 66% on Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results.

Delcath Systems, Inc. DCTH was down, falling 24% to $12.36. Delcath Systems reported Q4 results and announced top-line preliminary results from the Phase 3 FOCUS trial of Hepzato Kit (melphalan hydrochloride for injection/hepatic delivery system) in patients with liver dominant metastatic ocular melanoma.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $60.48, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,687.40.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $24.12 while copper rose 0.8% to $4.01.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.4%.

The Eurozone consumer price inflation rose to 1.3% year-over-year in March from 0.9% a month ago. Annual inflation rate in France rose to 1.1% in March, while industrial producer prices rose 0.8% in March. German unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% in February.

The UK GDP shrank 7.3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, while house prices rose 5.7% year-over-year in March. The country’s current account gap increased to GBP 26.3 billion in the fourth quarter from a revised GBP 14.3 billion in the third quarter.

Economics

Private businesses in the US hired 517,000 workers in March, the ADP said.

The Chicago PMI rose 6.8 points to a reading of 66.3 in March.

The pending home sales index dropped 0.5% year-over-year in February following a revised 13.5% surge in January.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 10:45 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here