Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles 300 Points; Advaxis Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.86% to 34,488.53 while the NASDAQ fell 0.08% to 14,626.98. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.48% to 4,331.47.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,723,800 cases with around 605,560 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 30,619,930 cases and 403,280 deaths, while Brazil reported over 18,792,510 COVID-19 cases with 525,110 deaths. In total, there were at least 184,185,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,985,480 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tarena International, Inc. TEDU, up 11%, and Aterian, Inc. ATER, up 8%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 2.9%.

Top Headline

The ISM services PMI dropped to 60.1 in June from an all-time high of 64 in the previous month. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 63.5.

Equities Trading UP

Bon Natural Life Limited BON shares shot up 38% to $11.13. Bon Natural Life received the certificate of a land use right for the future site of its third production facility in the city of Yumen.

Shares of PFSweb, Inc. PFSW got a boost, shooting 36% to $10.30 after the company agreed to sell LiveArea business to Merkle for $250 million.

Advaxis, Inc. ADXS shares were also up, gaining 32% to $0.6222. Advaxis and privately-held Biosight Ltd have entered into a merger agreement to create a public company that will prioritize the clinical advancement and commercialization of Biosight's lead product aspacytarabine (BST-236).

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

DiDi Global Inc. DIDI shares tumbled 21% to $12.32 after the company announced its app is being removed from Chinese app stores due to personal data collection concerns by the Chinese government.

Shares of Provention Bio, Inc. PRVB were down 25% to $6.19. The FDA has issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) to Provention Bio’s teplizumab marketing application seeking approval for the delay of clinical type 1 diabetes (T1D) in at-risk individuals.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. AHT was down, falling 32% to $2.6873 after the company announced preliminary Q2 RevPAR results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.3% to $73.42, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,794.00.

Silver traded down 1.2% Tuesday to $26.19 while copper fell 0.6% to $4.25.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.52%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.96% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.96%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.89%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.91% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.84%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone construction PMI came in unchanged at 50.3 for June. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone dropped 20.1 points to a reading of 61.2 in July, while retail sales rose 4.6% in May.

German factory orders declined 3.7% in May versus a revised 1.2% growth in April, while ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell 16.5 points to 63.3 in July. The UK’s construction PMI climbed to 66.3 in June. The IHS Markit construction PMI for France dropped to 48.9 in June from 51.1 a month ago. Spain's industrial production surged 26.0% year-over-year in May.

Economics

The IHS Markit Services PMI declined to 64.6 in June from the previous month's record high of 70.4.

The ISM services PMI dropped to 60.1 in June from an all-time high of 64 in the previous month.

Check out the full economic calendar here