Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 1%; REV Group Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.45% to 34,942.88 while the NASDAQ fell 1.09% to 15,207.45. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.55% to 4,495.35.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 40,280,090 cases with around 650,530 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,096,710 cases and 441,410 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,914,230 COVID-19 cases with 584,100 deaths. In total, there were at least 221,964,340 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,586,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares gained 1.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Alliant Energy Corporation LNT, up 2% and Eversource Energy ES up 3%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell by 1.3%.

Top Headline

Korn Ferry KFY reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued strong sales forecast for the current quarter.

Korn Ferry reported quarterly earnings of $1.37 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.07 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $588.10 million, versus expectations of $540.51 million.

Korn Ferry said it sees Q2 earnings of $1.30 to $1.44 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.92 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Kadmon Holdings, Inc. KDMN shares shot up 73% to $9.15. Sanofi announced Wednesday it has agreed to acquire New York-based biopharma Kadmon in a $1.9 billion all-cash deal.

Shares of Candel Therapeutics, Inc. CADL got a boost, shooting 15% to $11.43 following Q2 results. Candel Therapeutics reported a Q2 loss of $1.46 per share.

ICU Medical, Inc. ICUI shares were also up, gaining 34% to $275.32. ICU Medical agreed to acquire Smiths Group plc's Medical division in a transaction that will create an IV therapy company and simplify customer workflow.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

UiPath Inc. PATH shares tumbled 9% to $56.59 after the company reported Q2 earnings results.

Shares of Alector, Inc. ALEC were down 16% to $22.32. Alector announced that Shehnaaz Suliman and Robert Paul will be stepping down from their respective roles as President & chief operating officer and chief medical officer.

REV Group, Inc. REVG was down, falling 15% to $14.57 after the company posted downbeat Q3 sales and lowered FY21 sales forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $69.04, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,787.30.

Silver traded down 1.6% Wednesday to $23.985 while copper fell 1.4% to $4.2210.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.91%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.34% and the German DAX 30 dropped 1.26%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.55%, French CAC 40 fell 0.71% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.65%.

France's trade deficit increased to EUR 6.96 billion in July from revised EUR 6.05 billion in the prior month, while payroll employment in the private sector increased 1.4% to 19.84 million in the second quarter. Retail sales in Italy slipped 0.4% in July.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index surged 16.5% year-over-year during the first week of September.

The number of job openings increased by 749,000 to a new series high of 10.934 million in July, the Labor Department said.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 1:10 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its recent Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here