Mid-afternoon market update: Dow falls 50 points; L Brands shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20% to 24526 while the NASDAQ fell 0.56% to 9323.26. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.51% to 2956.56.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths around the world, reporting a total of 1,551,850 cases with around 93,430 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 291,570 COVID-19 cases with 18,850 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 317,550 confirmed cases and 3,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 5,016,170 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 328,470 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares climbed 0.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CIRCOR International, Inc. CIR 9.58%, up 10%, and Tutor Perini Corporation TPC 12.33%, up 14%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares dipped 1.2%.

Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY 4.28% reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Best Buy reported first-quarter earnings of $0.67 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.60 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $8.562 billion, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Domestic same-store sales slipped 5.7% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Surface Oncology, Inc. SURF 56.19% shares shot up 62% to $6.29 on continued momentum as the company announced an oncology partnership with Merck & Co., Inc. MRK 0.27%.

Shares of L Brands, Inc. LB 18.04% got a boost, shooting 20% to $14.67 despite worse-than-expected Q1 results. The company reported strong results in its Bath & Body Works segment.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB 32.9% shares were also up, gaining 28% to $16.31 after the company confirmed it will enter the U.S. market and will acquire Reliva for roughly $40 million in Aurora common shares and a potential earn out of $45 million in shares and cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY 26.54% shares tumbled 29% to $5.11 after the company announced a $2.29 million common stock offering and a $575,000 warrants offering.

Shares of Entera Bio Ltd. ENTX 28.07% were down 30% to $1.9950 as the company announced interim limited biomarker data from the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of EB613 in osteoporosis patients, with the study demonstrating statistically significant effects on the P1NP biomarker after one month of treatment as compared to placebo, and meaningful increases at months two and three as compared to placebo with the highest EB613 dose of 1.5mg. The company also reported first-quarter results.

Luckin Coffee Inc. LK 27.3% was down, falling 23% to $2.1629 after resuming trade following April fraud disclosures by the company. The company will reportedly cut 50% of its employees in Xiamen, Fujian province.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $33.73, while gold traded down 1.7% to $1,721.80.

Silver traded down 3.6% Thursday to $17.39, while copper fell 1.1% to $2.432.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.75%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.04%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.73%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.41%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.15% while UK shares fell 0.86%.

Economics

About 2.438 million persons filed for jobless claims for the week ended May 16th. Analysts were expecting a reading of 2.4 million.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index climbed to -43.1 in May, versus a reading of -56.6 in April.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 39.8 in May versus 36.1 in April, while services PMI gained to 36.9 in May from 26.7 in the prior month.

Sales of previously owned homes dropped 17.8% to an annual rate of 4.33 million units in April.

The index of leading economic indicators dropped 4.4% for April.

Domestic supplies of natural gas surged 81 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.