Mid-afternoon market update: Nasdaq tumbles 240 points, Oragenics shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.50% to 34,969.30 while the NASDAQ fell 1.62% to 14,600.30. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.80% to 4,387.07.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,533,180 cases with around 610,950 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,440,950 cases and 421,380 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,707,660 COVID-19 cases with 550,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 194,778,390 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,168,690 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 1.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Edison International EIX 2.87%, up 3% and DTE Energy Company DTE 2.4% up 3%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.7%.

Top Headline

General Electric Company GE 1.39% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

GE reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.05 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.04 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $18.30 billion, versus expectations of $18.13 billion.

GE boosted its industrial free cash flow outlook to $3.5 billion to $5 billion.

Equities Trading UP

EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYEG) shares shot up 22% to $3.82 after the company said it has entered a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Bayon Therapeutics, a private ophthalmic specialty pharmaceutical company focused on using light sensitive "photoswitch" small molecules, specifically designed to restore vision in patients with inherited and age-related degenerative retinal diseases. The company also announced that Brian Strem, co-founder and managing director of Bayon Therapeutics, was appointed as permanent president, CEO and board member, effective immediately.

Shares of Celestica Inc. CLS 15.28% got a boost, shooting 14% to $8.51 after reporting Q2 results.

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN 33.58% shares were also up, gaining 33% to $0.83 after the company announced it entered into a licensing agreement with the National Research Council of Canada that will enable it to pursue the rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.

Equities Trading DOWN

SkyWater Technology, Inc. SKYT 45.43% shares tumbled 42% to $16.68. SkyWater Technology reported that it will invest $56 million in capacity expansion and gallium nitride technology.

Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) were down 30% to $1.5450 after the company highlighted the presentation of updated data from Phase 2 MARIO-275 trial in urothelial cancer and Phase 2 MARIO-3 trial in triple negative breast cancer.

GasLog Partners LP GLOP 18.44% was down, falling 20% to $4.2150 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $71.71, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,801.60.

Silver traded down 2.3% Tuesday to $24.74 while copper fell 0.6% to $4.5575.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.54%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.87% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.64%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.42%, French CAC 40 fell 0.71% and Italy’s FTSE MIB declined 0.83%.

Producer prices in Spain rose 15.4% year-over-year in June. The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany fell to 100.8 in July from 101.7 a month ago.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

US durable goods orders rose 0.8% for June.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 17% year-over-year in May.

The FHFA house price index rose 1.7% from the prior month in May.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 129.1 for July from previous reading of 128.9.