Mid-day market update: SeaChange international falls after Q2 results; Akers Biosciences shares gain
|Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 2.09% to 23153.23 while the NASDAQ rose 0.74% to 7971.76. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.59% to 2705.96.
The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. U.S. reported a total of 368,400 coronavirus cases with around 10,900 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 140,500 coronavirus cases with 13,700 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 132,500 confirmed cases and 16,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 1,359,300 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 75,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 5.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Western Midstream Partners, LP WES 32.82%, up 27%, and DCP Midstream, LP DCP 26.03%, up 20%.
In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares rose by just 0.2%.
Top Headline
Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX 18.09% reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.
Greenbrier reported quarterly earnings of $0.46 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.29 per share. The company’s sales came in at $623.8 million, missing the consensus view of $798.97 million.
Greenbrier has lowered its global workforce by 3,500 employees. The company announced plans to suspend earlier issued guidance and cut overhead costs.
Equities Trading UP
Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER 30.21% shares shot up 25% to $5.87. Akers Biosciences filed amendment to $25 million offering of stock and debt securities. Akers Biosciences shares jumped around 147% on Monday following an update from the company regarding its COVID-19 vaccine development program.
Shares of Borr Drilling Limited BORR 113.89% got a boost, shooting 54% to $1.22 after surging over 37% on Monday.
Sasol Limited SSL 72.1% shares were also up, gaining 57% to $3.9919 amid hopes of production cuts by key producers to sustain prices, as well as positive economic sentiment on a potential leveling off of coronavirus cases in some regions.
Equities Trading DOWN
SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC 25.9% shares tumbled 24% to $2.7750 after reporting weaker-than-expected Q4 results.
Shares of Chimera Investment Corporation CIM 17.84% were down 17% to $6.79 after the company reported a public offering of convertible senior notes.
Golar LNG Limited GLNG 21.15% was down, falling 15% to $5.16.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $26.32, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,691.30.
Silver traded up 2.4% Tuesday to $15.525, while copper rose 2.4% to $2.2715.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.2% while UK shares rose 1.4%.
Economics
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.9% during March versus February.
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index declined 6.2 points to a reading of 47.8 in April.
The number of US job openings fell by 130,000 to 6.882 million in February, versus a revised 7.012 million in the earlier month.
Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
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