Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Drops Over 100 Points; Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.35% to 34,936.54 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47% to 14,729.53. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08% to 4,397.79.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,606,500 cases with around 611,3050 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,484,600 cases and 422,020 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,749,070 COVID-19 cases with 551,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 195,392,720 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,178,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Energy shares climbed 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included World Fuel Services Corporation INT, up 9% and Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. VIST up 9%.


In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1%.


Top Headline

McDonald's Corporation MCD reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

McDonald's reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.08 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $5.89 billion, versus expectations of $5.53 billion. Same-store sales for the company surged40.5% in the second quarter

 

Equities Trading UP


Grove, Inc. GRVI shares shot up 15% to $5.37 after the company issued preliminary Q4 sales guidance. The company said it sees preliminary Q4 revenue of $10.1 million to $10.4 million, up 300% year-over-year. The company also expects FY21 revenue of $23.6 million to $23.9 million, up 200% year-over-year.


Shares of Tilray, Inc. TLRY got a boost, shooting 24% to $15.83 after the company posted its latest financial earnings report Wednesday, touting a spike in both fourth quarter and full fiscal 2021 revenue and a proclamation from CEO Irwin D. Simon that Tilray is "leading the global cannabis industry with low cost of production, leading brands, a well-developed distribution network, and unique partnerships."


Bit Digital, Inc. BTBT shares were also up, gaining 40% to $8.24 after tumbling around 34% on Tuesday. Bit Digital and Digihost recently announced they entered into a second strategic co-mining agreement.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Höegh LNG Partners LP HMLP shares tumbled 64% to $6.38 after the company announced it cut its quarterly distribution from $0.44 to $0.01 per unit. Several firms also downgraded the stock.

Shares of Alset EHome International Inc. AEI were down 36% to $2.1894 after the company priced its underwritten public offering of about 6.4 million shares at $2.12 per share and its pre-funded warrants offering of about 8.66 million shares at $2.11 per share.

Bel Fuse Inc. BELFB was down, falling 11% to $11.38. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Strategic Education will replace Bel Fuse in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Tuesday, August 3.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $72.34, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,797.50.


Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $24.785 while copper fell 1.8% to $4.4630.


Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.66%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.33%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.29%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.18% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 0.7%.

The consumer confidence in France declined to 101 in July versus a revised reading of 103 in the earlier month. Annual house price growth in the UK fell to 10.5% in July from a seventeen-year high level of 13.4% in the prior month. Import prices in Germany climbed 12.9% annually in June, while consumer climate indicator for Germany came in unchanged at -0.3 for August. Italy's manufacturing confidence index climbed to 115.7 in July from 114.8 in the prior month.


Economics


The US goods trade deficit increased to $91.21 billion in June from $88.16 billion in the earlier month.


US wholesale inventories rose 0.8% month-over-month to $715 billion in June.


US crude oil inventories dropped 4.089 million barrels in the July 23rd week, following a 2.108 million rise in the prior period, the EIA said.


The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged during its latest meeting.


Check out the full economic calendar here

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsConsumer DiscretionaryMid-Afternoon Market UpdateRestaurants
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!