Mid-day market update: Gold surges 2%, Neuronetics shares plunge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.43% to 34,229.72 while the NASDAQ rose 0.40% to 14,524.02. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10% to 4,346.21.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,431,160 cases with around 737,580 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,001,740 cases and 451,220 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,590,090 COVID-19 cases with 601,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 239,595,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,884,230 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares gained by 0.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eldorado Gold Corporation EGO +9.32% (Get Free Alerts for EGO), up 9% and Endeavour Silver Corp. EXK +7.57% (Get Free Alerts for EXK) up 8%.

In trading on Wednesday, financials shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM +2.72% reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings of $3.74 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.00 per share. The bank reported quarterly net revenue of $29.65 billion and managed net revenue of $30.441 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $29.79 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. JSPR +122.88% shares shot up 107% to $14.93 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a $21 price target.

Shares of Waitr Holdings Inc. WTRH +54.71% got a boost, shooting 50% to $1.19 after Morgan Stanley reported a 10.3% passive stake in the company.

Clarus Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. CRXT +49.15% shares were also up, gaining 38% to $5.66 after Truist Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $10 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. RGLS +30.03% shares tumbled 32% to $0.5191 after the company announced a strategic prioritization of its next-generation candidate, RGLS8429, for the treatment of ADPKD. The company's previous ADPKD candidate, RGLS4326, will no longer be advanced.

Shares of NeuroOne Medical Technologies Corporation. NMTC +28.76% were down 25% to $3.0950 after the company priced a 3.75 million share common stock offering at $3.20 per share.

Neuronetics, Inc. STIM +15.53% was down, falling 18% to $5.24 after the company cut Q3 and FY21 sales guidance below estimates. BTIG downgraded Neuronetics from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $80.16, while gold traded up 2% to $1,793.90.

Silver traded up 2.9% Wednesday to $23.175 while copper rose 2.5% to $4.4315.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.69%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.77% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.63%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.23%, French CAC 40 rose 0.65% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.16%.

Industrial output in the Eurozone fell 1.6% in August, while factory output in the UK rose 4.1% year-over-year in August. Exports from the UK fell 2% to GBP 49.8 billion in August, while imports slipped 0.5% to GBP 53.5 billion. Industrial production in the UK increased 0.8% in August, while the country’s gross domestic product grew 2.9% on quarter during the three months to August. German consumer price inflation rate was confirmed at 4.1% year-over-year in September.

Economics

The annual inflation rate rose to a 13-year high of 5.4% in September versus 5.3% in the previous month.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury statement for September is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 8:00 p.m. ET.