Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Big Lots Issues Weak Profit Forecast

 

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.31% to 34,532.63 while the NASDAQ fell 1.44% to 15,160.41. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.60% to 4,549.65.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 49,716,820 cases with around 806,390 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,615,750 cases and 470,110 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,118,780 COVID-19 cases with 615,220 deaths. In total, there were at least 264,609,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,253,110 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Consumer staples shares climbed 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included China Xiangtai Food Co., Ltd. PLIN, up 5% and Sendas Distribuidora S.A. ASAI up 5%.


In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 1.3%.


Top Headline


Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, but issued weak earnings guidance for FY21.

Big Lots reported a quarterly loss of $0.14 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of a loss of $0.16 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.34 billion, versus expectations of $1.32 billion.

Big Lots said it sees Q4 EPS of $2.05-$2.20 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $2.39 per share. The company also projects FY21 EPS of $5.70-$5.85 per share, versus expectations of $5.97 per share. The company also reported a $250 million buyback plan.

 

Equities Trading UP


Celyad Oncology SA CYAD shares shot up 33% to $4.83. Celyad Oncology announced a private placement worth $32.5 million (about €28.7 million) with Fortress Investment Group. The offering includes the private placement of 6.5 million shares and will close by December 8.


Shares of IO Biotech, Inc. IOBT got a boost, shooting 36% to $11.26. The company, last month, priced its IPO at $14 per share.


Longeveron Inc. LGVN shares were also up, gaining 30% to $23.41. The FDA granted Orphan Drug designation to Longeveron’s lead investigational product Lomecel-B for Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. CELZ shares tumbled 42% to $2.7815.


Shares of DocuSign, Inc. DOCU were down 40% to $139.52 after the company issued Q4 2021 and FY22 revenue guidance below estimates. Several analysts also downgraded the stock.


Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR was down, falling 40% to $5.36. Esperion Therapeutics priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 32.14 million shares and short-term warrants to purchase up to 32.14 million shares at $7/share and accompanying warrant.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.5% to $68.19, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,773.50.


Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $22.37 while copper rose 0.2% to $4.3055.


Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.1%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone services PMI was revised lower to 55.9 in November versus a preliminary reading of 56.6. The IHS Markit France services PMI climbed to 57.4 in November from 56.6 in the prior month, while industrial production increased 0.9% in October. France's government budget deficit increased to EUR 171.6 billion in January-October of 2021, compared to EUR 159.9 billion in the year-ago period.

German services PMI was fell to 52.7 in November from a preliminary estimates of 53.4. Spain’s services PMI climbed to 59.8 in November from 56.6 a month ago, while Italy’s services PMI increased to 55.9 in November from 52.4 in the prior month.


Economics


The US economy added only 210,000 jobs in November, while unemployment rate dropped by 0.4 percentage points to 4.2% in November.


The IHS Markit services PMI was revised higher to 58.0 in November versus a preliminary reading of 57.0.


US factory orders rose 1% month-over-month in October.


The ISM non-manufacturing PMI rose to 69.1 in November from 66.7 in the prior month.


The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

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