Mid-afternoon market update: Dow tumbles 400 points; JinkoSolar shares jump

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 1.47% to 26887.20 while the NASDAQ fell 2.44% to 10,695.38. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.77% to 3,257.05.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,897,490 cases with around 200,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 5,646,010 confirmed cases and 90,020 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,591,360 COVID-19 cases with 138,100 deaths. In total, there were at least 31,638,070 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 971,480 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares slipped by just 0.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NuCana plc NCNA 6.07%, up 9%, and Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. HRMY 7.25%, up 10%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares tumbled 3.5%.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS 0.52% reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

General Mills reported quarterly earnings of $1.00 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.86 per share. The company reported sales of $4.40 billion, surpassing expectations of $4.21 billion. General Mills raised its quarterly dividend from $0.49 to $0.51 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Adicet Bio, Inc. ACET 10.91% shares shot up 16% to $11.77 after the company announced it will not be proceeding with its previously announced public offering of common stock.

Shares of SPI Energy Co., Ltd. SPI 1421.36% got a boost, shooting 2520% to $26.99 after the company launched a new electric vehicle subsidiary.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. JKS 19.67% shares were also up, gaining 21% to $33.56 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and issued strong Q3 sales forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

AC Immune SA ACIU 44.04% shares tumbled 44% to $4.8450 after the company said Roche Holding’s Genentech unit informed top line results from a Phase 2 trial of the anti-Tau antibody, semorinemab, in early Alzheimer's disease, showing the investigational asset did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint as well as two secondary endpoints.

Shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. WVE 37.15% were down 37% to $10.05 as the company said it has priced its underwritten public offering of 8.33 million of its ordinary shares at $12 per share. All of the shares in the offering are to be sold by Wave Life Sciences.

Usio, Inc. USIO 29.96% was down, falling 29% to $1.6150. Usio reported pricing of $8 million underwritten public offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $39.86, while gold traded down 2% to $1,869.20.

Silver traded down 6.1% Wednesday to $23.030 while copper fell 3.1% to $2.9665.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.55%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.08%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.18%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 climbed 0.39%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.62% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.2%.

German manufacturing PMI increased to 56.6 in September versus 52.2 in August, while services PMI declined to 49.1 in September from previous reading of 52.5. Spain’s GDP contracted by 17.8% on quarter during the three months to June.

Economics

The FHFA house price index rose 1% in July.

The IHS Markit services PMI declined to 54.6 in September versus 55.0 in the earlier month, while manufacturing PMI rose to 53.5 in September compared to 53.1 in August.

U.S. crude inventories dropped 1.6 million barrels for the week ended September 18, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a drop of 4 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub came in unchanged at 54.3 million barrels. Gasoline supply dropped 4 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles fell 3.4 million barrels.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is set to speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.