Mid-afternoon market update: Dow rises over 50 points, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.16% to 34,853.89 while the NASDAQ rose 0.38% to 14,687.85. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20% to 4,367.55.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,229,800 cases with around 609,870 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,257,720 cases and 418,980 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,473,950 COVID-19 cases with 545,600 deaths. In total, there were at least 192,054,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,128,050 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ACM Research, Inc. ACMR 3.71%, up 4%, and Adobe Inc. ADBE 1.87%, up 2%.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

AT&T Inc. T 0.32% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

AT&T reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.89 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.79 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $44.05 billion, versus expectations of $42.64 billion.

AT&T said it expects FY21 sales growth in the 2-3% range and also projects adjusted EPS to grow in the mid to mid-single digits.

Equities Trading UP

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRXP 62.71% shares shot up 45% to $14.64 as the company said it has validated the first commercial formulation of Zyesami for intravenous use, allowing for high volume manufacturing, with an anticipated one year or greater stability under appropriate storage conditions.

Shares of Couchbase, Inc. NASDAQBASE got a boost, shooting 30% to $31.19 as the company priced its IPO at $24 per share.

ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. IPA 136.49% shares were also up, gaining 102% to $11.22 after the company announced new results from its TATX-03 PolyTope Therapy, demonstrating potent pseudovirus neutralizing activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant.

Equities Trading DOWN

Seres Therapeutics, Inc. MCRB 61.83% shares tumbled 55% to $9.30 after the company announced topline results from the Phase 2b ECO-RESET study evaluating SER-287 in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC). The study did not meet its primary endpoint of improving clinical remission rates compared to placebo.

Shares of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TCON 24.54% were down 25% to $3.70 after the company announced it increased a previously announced bought deal offering of common stock to $15 million.

Jupiter Wellness, Inc. JUPW 26.88% was down, falling 23% to $2.15 after the company announced pricing of a $32.5 million underwritten public offering of common stock and warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $71.77, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,807.70.

Silver traded up 0.7% Thursday to $25.43 while copper rose 1.4% to $4.3320.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.56%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.64% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.60%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.43%, French CAC 40 surged 0.26% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 0.53%.

The European Central Bank announced plans to keep interest rates and asset purchases unchanged. The manufacturing climate indicator in France climbed to 110 in July from a revised reading of 108 in the prior month. The CBI's quarterly gauge of manufacturing optimism for the UK declined to 27 in the third quarter compared to 38 in the prior three-month period.

Economics

US initial jobless claims rose to 419,000 in the latest week, versus a revised reading of 368,000 in the previous week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to 0.09 in June from a revised reading of 0.26 in May.

Existing home sales rose 1.4% to 5.86 million in June.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.7% for June.

The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing production index surged to a record high of 41 in July versus 30 in the prior month.