Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; AutoNation Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 2.31% to 33,885.81 while the NASDAQ fell 1.67% to 14,186.04. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.94% to 4,243.38.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,080,000 cases with around 609,020 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,144,220 cases and 414,100 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,376,570 COVID-19 cases with 542,210 deaths. In total, there were at least 190,467,680 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,089,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TDH Holdings, Inc. PETZ, up 10%, and The Kroger Co. KR, up 3%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares tumbled 4.7%.

Top Headline

AutoNation, Inc. AN reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Monday.

AutoNation reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $4.83 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.58 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $6.98 billion, versus expectations of $6.02 billion. AutoNation also reported a $1 billion buyback plan.

 

Equities Trading UP

Cytokinetics, Incorporated CYTK shares shot up 52% to $29.31 after the company disclosed topline results from Cohorts 1 and 2 of REDWOOD-HCM.

Shares of NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRXP got a boost, shooting 37% to $11.64 after the company announced it presented evidence that its ZYESAMI helps prevent "Cytokine Storm" in patients with COVID-19.

Aehr Test Systems AEHR shares were also up, gaining 31% to $4.47 after the company won a $10.8 million single purchase order from its lead silicon carbide test and burn-in customer for multiple FOX-XP systems and complete sets of WaferPak Contactors to meet their increased production capacity needs.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Red Cat Holdings, Inc. RCAT shares tumbled 43% to $4.0488 after the company priced 13.33 million shares at $4.5 per share to raise $60 million in a secondary public offering.

Shares of China SXT Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SXTC were down 20% to $1.70 after jumping more than 40% on Friday.

Alzamend Neuro, Inc. ALZN was down, falling 19% to $5.02. Alzamend Neuro, earlier during the month, announced it submitted an Investigational New Drug application to the US FDA for the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical study of AL001.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.1% to $68.16, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,814.00.

Silver traded down 1.8% Monday to $25.325 while copper fell 2.8% to $4.2040.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.7% and the German DAX 30 dropped 2.9%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.7%, French CAC 40 declined 2.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 3.6%.

Construction output in the Eurozone surged 13.6% year-over-year in May compared to a record 45.2% growth in the earlier month.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index dropped to 80 in July from 81 in the prior month, .

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here