Mid-day market update: Crude Oil down 2%; Vaxart shares spike higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 2.01% to 25227.54 while the NASDAQ fell 1.45% to 9872.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.61% to 3,034.01.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 2,422,310 cases with around 124,410 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 1,228,110 COVID-19 cases with 54,970 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 619,930 confirmed cases and 8,770 deaths. In total, there were at least 9,628,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 489,730 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares slipped by just 0.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. ASPS 8.79%, up 6%, and Phoenix Tree Holdings Limited DNK, up 5%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 3.8%.

Top Headline

Nike Inc NKE 5.93% reported a loss for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Nike posted a quarterly loss of $790 million, or $0.51 per share, versus a year-earlier profit of $989 million, or $0.62 per share. Its sales tumbled to $6.3 billion from $10.1 billion. Analysts expected sales of $7.3 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT 60.38% shares shot up 59% to $9.95 after two announcements tied to coronavirus vaccine development. The South San Francisco, California-based company said its oral COVID-19 vaccine has been selected to participate in a non-human primate challenge study, or animal study, organized and funded by Operation Warp Speed. On Thursday, Vaxart said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Attwill Medical Solutions Sterilflow that will enable the latter to provide lyophilization development and large-scale manufacturing, including tableting and enteric coating, for Vaxart's COVID-19 vaccine.

Shares of MDC Partners Inc. MDCA 92.17% got a boost, shooting 109% to $2.4050 after the company announced the formation of a special committee to evaluate potential business combination with Stagwell.

Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CTXR 34.26% shares were also up, gaining 40% to $1.51 after the company received an FDA response on its pre-investigational NDA for induced mesenchymal stem cells to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with coronavirus.

Equities Trading DOWN

Luckin Coffee Inc. LK 48% shares tumbled 52% to $1.44 after the company announced the withdrawal of its request for a Nasdaq hearing. The company's shares will be suspended at the open of business on June 29.

Shares of Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. SHIP 39.07% were down 37% to $0.1777 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results.

Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON 39.74% was down, falling 37% to $1.14 after the company reported pricing of $2.1 million registered direct offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2% to $37.96, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,772.90.

Silver traded down 0.7% Friday to $17.765, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.663.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.4%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.6%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.1% and UK shares rose 0.4%.

Economics

US personal spending rose 8.2% in May, while personal income fell 4.2% in May.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 78.1 in June, versus a preliminary reading of 78.9.

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