Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Gains 100 Points; Rubius Therapeutics Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.32% to 32,930.37while the NASDAQ fell 1.08% to 13,325.62. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.39% to 3,947.09.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,549,550 cases with around 536,920 deaths. Brazil reported over 11,603,530 COVID-19 cases with 282,120 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 11,438,730 cases and 159,040 deaths. In total, there were at least 120,791,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,672,480 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Industrials shares rose 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Willis Lease Finance Corporation WLFC, up 25%, and Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. NM, up 17%.


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


Top Headline

Cintas Corporation CTAS reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Cintas posted quarterly earnings of $2.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.21 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.78 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.75 billion.

Cintas said it expects Q4 EPS of $2.20-$2.40 versus analysts’ estimates of $2.18. The company projects sales of $1.8 billion-$1.83 billion.

 


Equities Trading UP


Immatics N.V. IMTX shares shot up 30% to $15.10 after the company announced a clinical data update from the dose escalation cohorts of the company's ongoing Phase 1 trials for its engineered Adoptive Cell Therapy.


Shares of FSD Pharma Inc. HUGE got a boost, shooting 13% to $2.33 as the company entered into a license agreement to develop FDA approved veterinary drugs for the treatment of gastro-intestinal diseases in dogs and cats..


Mistras Group, Inc. MG shares were also up, gaining 13% to $11.80 after the company reported-better-than-expected Q4 results.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

IMV Inc. IMV shares tumbled 17% to $3.24 after the company reported a wider FY20 loss.

Shares of Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. RUBY were down 18% to $26.32 after the company priced its 6.9 million share common stock at $29 per share. Rubius Therapeutics recently reported initial data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of RTX-240 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

South Jersey Industries, Inc. SJI was down, falling 17% to $23.08 after the company announced a $225 million common stock and equity units offering.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $64.22, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,725.20.


Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $25.97 while copper rose 1.1% to $4.1180.


Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.45%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.69% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.18%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.06%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.51% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.04%.

Demand for new passenger cars in the European Union dipped 19.3% annually to 771,486 units in February.


Economics


Housing starts dropped 10.3% to an annualized rate of 1.421 million in February, while building permits dipped 10.8% to an annual rate of 1.682 million in February.


US crude oil inventories increased 2.396 million barrels fir the week ended March 12, following a 13.798-million rise in the previous week, the Energy Information Administration said.


The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.


The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 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-Day 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...