Mid-day market update: Aehr Test Systems surges following Q1 results, Onconova Therapeutics shares slide

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.03% to 34,753.87 while the NASDAQ fell 0.45% to 14,984.38. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10% to 4,444.74.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 42,672,290 cases with around 684,350 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,594,800 cases and 446,360 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,308,170 COVID-19 cases with 592,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 230,637,880 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,729,300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Camber Energy, Inc. CEI +18.84% (Get Free Alerts for CEI), up 14% and Mammoth Energy Services, Inc. TUSK +11.95% (Get Free Alerts for TUSK) up 11%.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

On Thursday, Nike Inc NKE +6.25% reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed expectations. The company also lowered its sales forecast for the full year.

Equities Trading UP

Aehr Test Systems AEHR +35.61% shares shot up 33% to $15.71 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results. The company also said it sees FY21 revenue of $50 million.

Shares of Unique Fabricating, Inc. UFAB +29.36% got a boost, shooting 35% to $3.41. Form 4 filings from late Thursday showed stock purchases from multiple company’s Directors.

Meredith Corporation MDP +25.77% shares were also up, gaining 26% to $56.42 following reports suggesting IAC/InterActiveCorp is in advanced talks to acquire the company in a deal valued at over $2.5 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Canaan Inc. CAN +21.42% shares tumbled 21% to $6.09 amid a decrease in the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum after China's Central Bank banned all crypto transactions and vowed to stop illegal crypto mining. The company’s board recently approved a $20 million share buyback program worth outstanding ADS, each representing 15 Class A shares over the next 12 months starting from September 20.

Shares of Helbiz, Inc. HLBZ +13.5% were down 19% to $18.61. Helbiz announced its official arrival in California.

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. ONTX +20.16% was down, falling 18% to $4.1748. Onconova Therapeutics priced an underwritten public offering of 5 million shares at $4.20 for gross proceeds of $21 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $73.77, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,748.20.

Silver traded down 1.5% Friday to $1,748.20 while copper rose 0.2% to $4.2405.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.77%, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.02% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.73%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.22%, French CAC 40 fell 0.85% and Italy’s FTSE MIB declined 0.17%.

The United Kingdom’s GfK consumer confidence index fell to -13 for the month of September from -8 a month ago. Manufacturing confidence in Italy dropped to 113 in September from a revised level of 113.2 in August, while consumer confidence climbed to 119.6 from 116.2. The Ifo business climate indicator for Germany fell to 98.8 in September versus a revised reading of 99.6 in August.

Economics

New home sales surged 1.5% to an annual rate of 740,000 in August.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.