Mid-afternoon market update: Dow drops over 100 points, Fed leaves rates unchanged

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.35% to 34,936.54 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47% to 14,729.53. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08% to 4,397.79.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,606,500 cases with around 611,3050 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,484,600 cases and 422,020 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,749,070 COVID-19 cases with 551,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 195,392,720 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,178,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included World Fuel Services Corporation INT 8.16%, up 9% and Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. VIST 9.67% up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

McDonald's Corporation MCD 1.82% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

McDonald's reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.08 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $5.89 billion, versus expectations of $5.53 billion. Same-store sales for the company surged40.5% in the second quarter

Equities Trading UP

Grove, Inc. GRVI 20.86% shares shot up 15% to $5.37 after the company issued preliminary Q4 sales guidance. The company said it sees preliminary Q4 revenue of $10.1 million to $10.4 million, up 300% year-over-year. The company also expects FY21 revenue of $23.6 million to $23.9 million, up 200% year-over-year.

Shares of Tilray, Inc. TLRY 25.77% got a boost, shooting 24% to $15.83 after the company posted its latest financial earnings report Wednesday, touting a spike in both fourth quarter and full fiscal 2021 revenue and a proclamation from CEO Irwin D. Simon that Tilray is "leading the global cannabis industry with low cost of production, leading brands, a well-developed distribution network, and unique partnerships."

Bit Digital, Inc. BTBT 35.82% shares were also up, gaining 40% to $8.24 after tumbling around 34% on Tuesday. Bit Digital and Digihost recently announced they entered into a second strategic co-mining agreement.

Equities Trading DOWN

Höegh LNG Partners LP HMLP 64.8% shares tumbled 64% to $6.38 after the company announced it cut its quarterly distribution from $0.44 to $0.01 per unit. Several firms also downgraded the stock.

Shares of Alset EHome International Inc. AEI 35.19% were down 36% to $2.1894 after the company priced its underwritten public offering of about 6.4 million shares at $2.12 per share and its pre-funded warrants offering of about 8.66 million shares at $2.11 per share.

Bel Fuse Inc. BELFB 11.15% was down, falling 11% to $11.38. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Strategic Education will replace Bel Fuse in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Tuesday, August 3.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $72.34, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,797.50.

Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $24.785 while copper fell 1.8% to $4.4630.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.66%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.33%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.29%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.18% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 0.7%.

The consumer confidence in France declined to 101 in July versus a revised reading of 103 in the earlier month. Annual house price growth in the UK fell to 10.5% in July from a seventeen-year high level of 13.4% in the prior month. Import prices in Germany climbed 12.9% annually in June, while consumer climate indicator for Germany came in unchanged at -0.3 for August. Italy's manufacturing confidence index climbed to 115.7 in July from 114.8 in the prior month.

Economics

The US goods trade deficit increased to $91.21 billion in June from $88.16 billion in the earlier month.

US wholesale inventories rose 0.8% month-over-month to $715 billion in June.

US crude oil inventories dropped 4.089 million barrels in the July 23rd week, following a 2.108 million rise in the prior period, the EIA said.

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged during its latest meeting.