U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 80 points on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.40% to 34,715.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.58% to 13,841.50. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.52% to 4,480.87.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 1.8% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

Virco Mfg. Corporation (NASDAQ:VIRC) shares jumped around 12% on Monday after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

Virco Mfg posted quarterly earnings of 95 cents per share, beating market estimates of 64 cents per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $107.32 million versus expectations of $95.22 million.

Equities Trading UP

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE:NBY) shares shot up 32% to $0.8199 after the company granted Biostem Technologies the right to commercialize amniotic tissue allograft, which is intended for use as a protective covering during the repair of ocular surfaces.

Shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) got a boost, shooting 73% to $27.58 after the company's once-daily oral paltusotine achieved the primary and secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 PATHFNDR-1 study in acromegaly.

Avantax, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVTA) shares were also up, gaining 28% to $25.52 as the company agreed to be acquired by Cetera Holdings for $26 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

SigmaTron International, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMA) shares dropped 47% to $3.9791 after the company released first-quarter earnings.

Shares of Tenon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:TNON) were down 36% to $0.1601 after the company announced proposed public offering of common stock.

Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. (NYSE:GRNT) was down, falling 11% to $6.66. Granite Ridge Resources launched a secondary public offering of 7.1 million shares by selling stockholders.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $87.53 while gold traded up 0.3% at $1,948.40.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $23.36 on Monday while copper rose 2.3% to $3.8005.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.18% London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.08% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.49% The German DAX rose 0.28% French CAC 40 rose 0.42%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.76%.

Industrial production in Italy fell 0.7% from a month ago in July versus a 0.5% growth in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.43%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.58% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.84%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.5%.

Economics

There were no major US economic releases Monday.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 108,296,300 cases with around 1,174,580 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,710 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 695,108,160 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,914,370 deaths.