Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09% to 34,631.35 while the NASDAQ rose 0.29% to 13,964.96. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15% to 4,233.76.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,393,800 cases with around 598,330 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,089,060 cases and 353,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,037,120 COVID-19 cases with 476,790 deaths. In total, there were at least 174,041,980 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,748,860 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Health care shares climbed 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ:AEZS), up 17%, and Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKPT), up 25%.
In trading on Wednesday, industrials shares fell 0.8%.
Top Headline
Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:THO) reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter.
Campbell Soup reported quarterly earnings of $0.57 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.66 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.98 billion, versus expectations of $2.00 billion.
Campbell Soup lowered its FY21 EPS guidance from $3.03-$3.11 to $2.90-$2.93. The company expects FY21 net sales to decrease 3%-3.5%. The company also reported a $250 million buyback plan.
Equities Trading UP
Shares of The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) got a boost, shooting 47% to $9.35 amid continued retail investor interest in high-short interest stocks.
Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKPT) shares were also up, gaining 25% to $3.33 after B. Riley Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $18 price target.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) shares tumbled 18% to $33.33 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales and issued FY21 EPS guidance with a midpoint below consensus estimates.
Shares of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL) were down 13% to $22.49 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results.
Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ:RIDE) was down, falling 16% to $9.45 after the company's amended annual filing mentioned going concerns that current cash levels are not enough to begin commercial production.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $70.30, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,893.30.
Silver traded up 0.7% Wednesday to $27.93 while copper fell 0.8% to $4.52.
Euro zone
European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.02%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.34% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.51%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.09%, French CAC 40 rose 0.15% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.22%.
German trade surplus surged to EUR 15.5 billion in April from EUR 3.5 billion in the year-ago period, while current account surplus widened to EUR 21.3 billion from EUR 10.0 billion.
Economics
US wholesale inventories rose 0.8% to $698.0 billion in April.
US crude oil inventories dropped 5.2 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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