Mid-day market update: Crude oil rises over 1%, Gemini Therapeutics shares slide

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 33,948.64 while the NASDAQ rose 0.19% to 14,280.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.10% to 4,250.86.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,566,050 cases with around 602,460 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 30,028,700 cases and 390,660 deaths, while Brazil reported over 18,054,650 COVID-19 cases with 504,710 deaths. In total, there were at least 179,199,020 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,883,480 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT 13.45%, up 9%, and SM Energy Company SM 8.25%, up 8%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

IHS Markit Ltd INFO 0.48% reported upbeat results for its second quarter.

IHS Markit reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.80 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.18 billion, versus expectations of $1.13 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Entera Bio Ltd. ENTX 51.02% shares shot up 64% to $7.37 after the company reported topline Phase 2 bone mineral density data for EB613.

Shares of Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. BLPH 21.81% got a boost, shooting 27% to $5.17. Hearing Brookline Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and $26 price target.

Loop Industries, Inc. LOOP 18.99% shares were also up, gaining 21% to $15.90. Loop Industries announced plans to form a strategic partnership with SK global chemical Co. Ltd to bring sustainable and circular plastics to the Asian market.

Equities Trading DOWN

Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. GMTX 29.84% shares tumbled 32% to $6.65 after the company announced initial data from its Phase 2a ReGAtta study of GEM103 in patients with secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration.

Shares of Keros Therapeutics, Inc. KROS 11.66% were down 19% to $42.76 after the company disclosed preliminary results from Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating KER-050.

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. EYES 19.92% was down, falling 19% to $5.13 after the company reported the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 10,000,000 shares at $5.00 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $73.84, while gold traded up 0.9% to $1,793.20.

Silver traded up 1.8% Wednesday to $26.31 while copper rose 2.5% to $4.3355.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.35%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.47% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.58%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.29%, French CAC 40 fell 0.44% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.46%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI came in unchanged at 63.1 in June, while services PMI climbed to 58.0 in June. Germany’s composite PMI increased to 60.4 in June, recording its strongest reading since March 2011. French composite PMI increased to 57.1 in June from 57 in May.

Economics

The current account deficit increased to $195.7 billion in the first quarter from a revised $175.1 billion gap in the earlier period.

The IHS Markit services PMI slipped to 64.8 in June from 70.4 in the previous month, while manufacturing PMI rose to 62.6 in June from 62.1 in May.

Sales of new single family houses dropped 5.9% to an annualized rate of 769,000 in May.

US crude-oil supplies dropped around 8 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren is set to speak at 4:30 p.m. ET.