Mid-afternoon market update: Nasdaq jumps 100 points, Jasper Therapeutics shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 34,398.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.70% to 14,566.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.31% to 4,364.35.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,431,160 cases with around 737,580 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,001,740 cases and 451,220 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,590,090 COVID-19 cases with 601,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 239,595,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,884,230 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares gained by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Found Gold Corp. NFGC +11.42% (Get Free Alerts for NFGC), up 12% and Standard Lithium Ltd. SLI +15.16% (Get Free Alerts for SLI) up 10%.

In trading on Wednesday, financials shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM +2.38% reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings of $3.74 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.00 per share. The bank reported quarterly net revenue of $29.65 billion and managed net revenue of $30.441 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $29.79 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. JSPR +105.13% shares shot up 122% to $16.01 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a $21 price target.

Shares of Waitr Holdings Inc. WTRH +58.45% got a boost, shooting 48% to $1.19 after Morgan Stanley reported a 10.3% passive stake in the company.

Clarus Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. CRXT +29.02% shares were also up, gaining 30% to $5.34 after Truist Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $10 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. RGLS +29.88% shares tumbled 30% to $0.5334 after the company announced a strategic prioritization of its next-generation candidate, RGLS8429, for the treatment of ADPKD. The company's previous ADPKD candidate, RGLS4326, will no longer be advanced.

Shares of NeuroOne Medical Technologies Corporation. NMTC +29.37% were down 30% to $2.90 after the company priced a 3.75 million share common stock offering at $3.20 per share.

Neuronetics, Inc. STIM +24.53% was down, falling 19% to $5.18 after the company cut Q3 and FY21 sales guidance below estimates. BTIG downgraded Neuronetics from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $80.51, while gold traded up 1.9% to $1,793.30.

Silver traded up 2.6% Wednesday to $23.105 while copper rose 3.9% to $4.4950.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.70%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.61% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.68%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.16%, French CAC 40 rose 0.75% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.12%.

Industrial output in the Eurozone fell 1.6% in August, while factory output in the UK rose 4.1% year-over-year in August. Exports from the UK fell 2% to GBP 49.8 billion in August, while imports slipped 0.5% to GBP 53.5 billion. Industrial production in the UK increased 0.8% in August, while the country’s gross domestic product grew 2.9% on quarter during the three months to August. German consumer price inflation rate was confirmed at 4.1% year-over-year in September.

Economics

The annual inflation rate rose to a 13-year high of 5.4% in September versus 5.3% in the previous month.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 8:00 p.m. ET.