Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Fastenal Reports In-Line Earnings

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 34,564.47 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06% to 14,494.82. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12% to 4,366.61.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,313,350 cases with around 734,610 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,985,920 confirmed cases and 450,990 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,582,730 COVID-19 cases with 601,260 deaths. In total, there were at least 239,108,950 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 4,874,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares surged 1.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included eXp World Holdings, Inc. EXPI, up 4%, and PotlatchDeltic Corporation PCH, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares tumbled 1.2%.

Top Headline

Fastenal Company FAST reported in-line earnings for its third quarter on Tuesday.
Fastenal reported quarterly earnings of $0.42 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.42 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.55 billion, versus expectations of $1.54 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ESS Tech Inc GWH shares shot up 100% to $20.83. ESS Inc, the Bill Gates-backed battery maker went public on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday after completing a slated business combination with special purpose acquisition company Acon S2 Investment Corp.

Shares of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company RRD got a boost, shooting 39% to $6.86 after Chatham Asset Management submitted an offer to acquire all common stock of RRD not already owned by Chatham for $7.50 per share in cash..

Nutriband Inc.. NTRB shares were also up, gaining 37% to $10.10 after the company announced it signed an exclusive manufacturing agreement for Diocheck visual COVID-19 antibody indicator patch.

Equities Trading DOWN

Organogenesis Holdings Inc. ORGO shares tumbled 18% to $9.88. The company is expected to report Q3 earnings on Tuesday, November 9th.

Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. COLB were down 13% to $34.24. Columbia Banking System and Umpqua Holdings Corporation reported a business combination.

Sphere 3D Corp. ANY was down, falling 12% to $7.28.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $80.61, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,760.10.

Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $22.535 while copper fell 0.5% to $4.3440.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.08%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.36%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.18%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 0.35%, French CAC 40 fell 0.42% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.23%.

The UK’s unemployment rate fell to 4.5% during the three months to August, while average weekly earnings including bonuses rose 7.2% year-over-year. Wholesale prices in Germany surged 13.2% annually in September.

Economics

The number of job openings fell to 10.439 million in August versus an all-time high of 11.098 million in the previous month.

The Treasury will auction 3-month bills and 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.