Mid-day market update: Crude oil down 2.5%, Exicure shares spike higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.35% to 35,058.26 while the NASDAQ rose 0.52% to 14,748.83. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39% to 4,412.29.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 35,004,590 cases with around 613,220 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,695,950 cases and 424,770 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,938,350 COVID-19 cases with 556,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 198,392,550 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,225,600 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.9% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. WHG 2.49%, up 4% and AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. MITT 1.41% up 3%.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell 0.1%.

Top Headline

Global Payments Inc. GPN 9.51% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY21 guidance.

Global Payments reported quarterly earnings of $2.04 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.89 per share. The company’s adjusted net revenue came in at $1.94 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion.

Global Payments said it now expects FY21 EPS of $8.07-$8.20 versus prior forecast of $7.87-$8.07. The company also boosted its adjusted net revenue guidance from $7.55 billion-$7.625 billion to $7.70 billion -$7.73 billion. The company also added $1.5 billion to its buyback program

Equities Trading UP

Ever-Glory International Group, Inc. EVK 123.89% shares shot up 158% to $5.84 after the company announced a $5 million stock repurchase program.

Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. INFI 35.57% got a boost, shooting 25% to $2.64. JP Morgan upgraded Infinity Pharmaceuticals from Neutral to Overweight and announced a $6 price target.

Exicure, Inc. XCUR 34.81% shares were also up, gaining 37% to $1.8500. Ipsen and Exicure have collaborated to research, develop, and commercialize novel Spherical Nucleic Acids (SNAs) as potential investigational treatments for Huntington's disease and Angelman syndrome.

Equities Trading DOWN

Immunovant, Inc. IMVT 23.71% shares tumbled 24% to $7.98 after the company received a $200 million strategic investment from Roivant Sciences that the Company will use to advance IMVT-1401 in multiple indications.

Shares of TG Therapeutics, Inc. TGTX 23.35% were down 22% to $27.17 after the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

ECMOHO Limited MOHO 12.76% was down, falling 17% to $1.20 after the company reported a proposed underwritten public offering of American Depositary Shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.5% to $72.09, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,818.30.

Silver traded down 0.1% Monday to $25.515 while copper fell 0.4% to $4.4635.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.65%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.13% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.31%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.88%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.12% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.29%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 62.8 in July from a preliminary reading of 62.6, but down from June’s reading of 63.4. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI declined to 60.4 in July from 63.9 in the earlier month

Retail sales in Germany surged 4.2% in June following a 4.6% growth in May, while manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 65.9 in July from a preliminary reading of 65.6. French manufacturing PMI declined to 58 in July from 59 in the previous month, while Italy’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 60.3 from 62.2. The IHS Markit Spain’s manufacturing PMI declined to 59 in July versus June’s reading of 60.4, while consumer confidence indicator fell by 5.5 points to 91.9 in July.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 63.4 in July from a preliminary reading of 63.

The ISM manufacturing PMI dropped to 59.5 in July from 60.6 in June.

US construction spending rose 0.1% for June.