Mid-afternoon market update: Rogers jumps following upbeat Q3 results; Pitney Bowes shares plunge

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 1.45% to 26,272.64 while the NASDAQ fell 2.93% to 10,857.97. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.93% to 3,246.08.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,947,830 cases with around 228,670 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,088,850 confirmed cases and 121,090 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,494,370 COVID-19 cases with 158,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 45,107,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,182,270 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares slipped by just 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included San Juan Basin Royalty Trust SJT 7.86%, up 8%, and SM Energy Company SM 7.46%, up 8%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares dipped 3.6%.

Top Headline

Honeywell International Inc. HON 0.91% reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Honeywell reported quarterly earnings of $1.56 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.49 per share. The company posted sales of $7.80 billion, surpassing expectations of $7.65 billion.

Honeywell said it expects Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.97 to $2.02 on sales of $8.2 billion to $8.5 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $1.88 per share on sales of $8.41 billion. Honeywell expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $7 to $7.05 on sales of $31.9 billion to $32.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Rogers Corporation ROG 17.77% shares shot up 18% to $121.56 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued strong Q4 guidance.

Shares of MoneyGram International, Inc. MGI 11.25% got a boost, shooting 13% to $5.07 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. ACHC 20.76% shares were also up, gaining 21% to $34.96 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued strong Q4 earnings guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BLCM 38.9% shares tumbled 40% to $3.53 after the company priced its 4.15 million shares at $6.025 per share. Wells Fargo downgraded the stock from Overweight to Equal-Weight and announced a price target of $4.5 per share.

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd. AXGT 43.01% were down 42% to $2.11 after the company announced updates to be presented at its virtual Parkinson's disease R&D day, stating individual patient-level data from cohort 2 of the Phase 2 SUNRISE-PD study that is evaluating its AXO-Lenti-PD gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease showed favorable safety and tolerability profile, with no serious adverse events. The company also said it is unlikely that its planned sham-controlled trial of AXO-Lenti-PD will begin to enroll patients by the end of calendar year 2021.

Pitney Bowes Inc. PBI 29.04% was down, falling 28% to $5.36 after the company reported Q3 earnings results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $35.62, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,881.30.

Silver traded up 1.5% Friday to $23.71 while copper fell 0.2% to $3.05.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.18%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.63%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.40%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.36%, French CAC 40 rose 0.54% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.08%.

German gross domestic product climbed by a record 8.2% during the three months to September, while Spain's economy grew 16.7% on quarter in the same period. The French economy grew at a pace of 18.2% in the third quarter.

Economics

US personal income rose 0.9% for September, while spending increased 1.4%.

The Chicago PMI declined to 61.1 in October versus 62.4 in September.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised higher to 81.8 for October versus a preliminary reading of 81.2.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs gained by 10 to 221 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.