Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 0.5%; Vir Biotechnology Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 30,974.77 while the NASDAQ fell 0.03% to 13,632.13. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.08% to 3,852.18.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 25,298,400 cases with around 421,230 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,676,830 confirmed cases and 153,580 deaths, while Brazil reported over 8,871,390 COVID-19 cases with 217,660 deaths. In total, there were at least 99,801,410 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,142,520 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares gained by 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Q&K International Group Limited QK, up 15%, and eXp World Holdings, Inc. EXPI, up 8%.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Verizon reported quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.17 per share. The company posted revenue of $34.70 billion, versus estimates of $34.43 billion.

Verizon said it expects FY21 adjusted earnings of $5.00 to $5.15 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $4.98 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

CarParts.com, Inc. PRTS shares shot up 32% to $17.91 after the company announced it launched a new dedicated shopping hub for the hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicle community.

Shares of Vir Biotechnology, Inc. VIR got a boost, shooting 28% to $56.66 after the company announced initial topline data from its ongoing trial of VIR-3434 in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Edesa Biotech, Inc. EDSA shares were also up, gaining 33% to $7.37 after the company announced it received FDA and Health Canada approval to add to its sub-study for its Phase 2/3 of its EB05 as potential rescue therapy for critically Covid-19.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. SEEL shares tumbled 12% to $2.3513 after the company priced 15.24 million share offering at $2.05 per share.

Shares of Lipocine Inc. LPCN were down 17% to $1.8350 after the company priced 14.3 million common shares at $1.75 per share.

Repro Med Systems, Inc. KRMD was down, falling 14% to $4.4299 after the company announced FY20 preliminary sales below analyst estimates and announced the resignation of CEO and President Don Pettigrew. Multiple firms also downgraded their ratings on the stock, respectively.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $52.49, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,851.60.

Silver traded up 0.2% Tuesday to $25.54 while copper fell 0.3% to $3.6170.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.63%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.86% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.66%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 0.93%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.23% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 1.15%.

Spain’s producer prices dropped 1.4% year-over-year in December versus a 2.8% decline in the earlier month, while the unemployment rate in the UK increased to 5% in the three months to November versus 4.9% in the prior period.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 2% during the first three weeks of January versus December.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 9.1% year-over-year in November versus a revised 8% growth in the earlier month.

The FHFA house price index rose 1% in November versus a 1.5% increase in October.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 89.30 in January versus prior reading of 88.60.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index declined to 14 in January versus previous reading of 19.

The Treasury will auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here