Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles Over 300 Points; Federal Reserve Maintains Interest Rates

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.92% to 33,983.29 while the NASDAQ fell 0.68% to 13,977.59. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.74% to 4,215.21.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,486,910 cases with around 600,280 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,633,100 cases and 379,570 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,533,220 COVID-19 cases with 490,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 176,682,210 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,823,780 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Financial shares rose 0.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. NAPA, up 3%, and Vital Farms, Inc. VITL, up 2%.


In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell 1.2%.


Top Headline

The Federal Reserve maintained its target fed funds rate range of between zero and 0.25%.

Eleven Fed members see no change to interest rates through at least 2022. Five members forecast rates will rise by 0.25% by the end of 2022 and two members forecast a 0.5% rise. All but five members now forecast at least one rate hike by the end of 2023.

 

Equities Trading UP


Kindred Biosciences, Inc. KIN shares shot up 45% to $9.21 after Elanco announced an agreement to acquire the company for $9.25 per share.


Shares of Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. APRE got a boost, shooting 21% to $5.88 after the company announced that the Phase 1/2 trial evaluating eprenetapopt in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has met the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint of complete remission (CR) rate.


Forward Industries, Inc. FORD shares were also up, gaining 11% to $3.0312 after the company announced a U.S. distribution agreement with Chipolo.

Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PRTK shares tumbled 12% to $8.99. Paratek Pharmaceuticals initiated Phase 2b trial evaluating Nuzyra (omadacycline) for Nontuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) Pulmonary Disease caused by Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABc).

Shares of Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. IKT were down 29% to $2.8701 after the company priced an underwritten public offering of 15 million shares at $3/share for gross proceeds of approximately $45 million.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 22% to $4.2950 after the company priced public offering of 4.706 million shares of Class A common stock at $4.25 per share.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $71.96, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,842.40.


Silver traded down 0.5% Wednesday to $27.56 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.3380.


Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.23%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.31% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.12%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.17%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.20% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.12%.

UK’s producer prices rose 4.6% year-on-year in May, while consumer price inflation rate increased to 2.1% year-over-year.


Economics

Housing starts rose 3.6% to an annualized rate of 1.572 million in May, while building permits fell 3.0% to a 1.681 million rate.


US import prices increased 1.1% in May, while prices for exports climbed 2.2%.


US crude-oil inventories dropped 7.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.


The Federal Reserve maintained its target fed funds rate range of between zero and 0.25%.


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...