Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Turns Positive; Luokung Technology Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.11% to 31,556.47 while the NASDAQ fell 0.89% to 13,921.94. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.27% to 3,921.97.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 27,757,500 cases with around 488,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,937,320 confirmed cases and 155,910 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,921,980 COVID-19 cases with 240,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 109,604,770 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,421,280 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Energy shares rose 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Mammoth Energy Services, Inc. TUSK, up 25%, and U.S. Well Services, Inc. USWS, up 11%.


In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell by 1.2%.


Top Headline

Owens Corning OC reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Owens Corning reported quarterly earnings of $1.90 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.38 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.90 billion, versus expectations of $1.80 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP


CLPS Incorporation CLPS shares shot up 139% to $11.70 after the company said its technology subsidiary signed vendor deal with US digital payment platform to provide IT services.


Shares of Comstock Mining Inc. LODE got a boost, shooting 174% to $6.17 following news the company secured a majority interest in a lithium-ion battery recycling company. Comstock plans to process 10,000 tons of lithium-ion per year into 99.9% pure lithium-ion cathodes for clean energy usage.

Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA shares were also up, gaining 25% to $10.08. Processa Pharmaceuticals executed securities purchase agreement to raise gross proceeds of $10.2 million from sale of 1,321,132 shares at $7.75 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Luokung Technology Corp. LKCO shares tumbled 28% to $2.17 after the company announced a roughly 48 million share common stock offering priced at $2.08 per share.

Shares of Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT were down 38% to $12.76. Socket Mobile shares jumped over 538% on Tuesday after the company announced the launch of its DuraSled barcode scanner for the iPhone 12.

Pyxis Tankers Inc. PXS was down, falling 31% to $2.04 after the company announced a $25 million private placement of common stock at $1.75 per share.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $60.90, while gold traded down 1.4% to $1,773.50.


Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $27.36 while copper fell 0.2% to $3.8255.


Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.74%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.38% and the German DAX 30 slipped 1.1%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.36%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.56% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 1.12%.

Eurozone construction output in fell 2.3% year-over-year in December. Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 0.7% in January from 0.6% in December, while producer prices fell 0.2% year-on-year in January.


Economics


The Producer Price Index rose 1.3% for January.


Retail sales in the US climbed 5.3% in January.


US industrial production rose 0.9% for January.


US business inventories increased 0.6% for December.


The NAHB housing market index rose 1 point to 84 in February.


The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.


Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...