Mid-day market update: Crude Oil surges 5%; Slack shares plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 3.64% to 27239.01 while the NASDAQ rose 2% to 9808.04. The S&P also rose, gaining 2.85% to 3201.13.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,872,660 cases with around 108,210 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 614,940 COVID-19 cases with 34,020 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 449,250 confirmed cases and 5,520 deaths. In total, there were at least 6,658,330 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 391,580 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 7.8% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Transocean Ltd. RIG 49.25%, up 40%, and Callon Petroleum Company CPE 64.21%, up 51%.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 1.5%.

Top Headline

Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 2.51 million in May compared to an expected contraction of 8 million and the previous month’s contraction of 20.69 million.

The U.S. unemployment rate contracted 1.4 percentage points in May to 13.3% — far exceeding economist forecasts of 19.8%

Equities Trading UP

Hermitage Offshore Services Ltd. PSV 90.93% shares shot up 89% to $1.0250 following Q1 results. Hermitage Offshore posted a quarterly loss of $0.25 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.98 per share.

Shares of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTPH 14.09% got a boost, shooting 19% to $2.5350 after the company received FDA approval for its Supplemental New Drug Application for new strength of XERAVA for injection.

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. HTZ 78.47% shares were also up, gaining 98% to $2.97 mid volatility after the company recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Slack Technologies, Inc. WORK 13.87% shares tumbled 16% to $31.98. Slack Technologies reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but withdrew its annual billings guidance. Amazon and Slack also announced a strategic partnership in a bid to compete with Microsoft’s Teams.

Shares of Cinedigm Corp. CIDM 21.07% were down 26% to $2.6889 after the company issued Q2 guidance below analyst estimates. However, the company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

Titan Medical Inc. TMDI 30.25% was down, falling 31% to $1.0799. Titan Medical shares jumped 463% on Thursday after the company announced development and license agreements with Medtronic and a senior secured loan.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 5% to $39.29, while gold traded down 2.8% to $1,679.70.

Silver traded down 3.1% Friday to $17.505, while copper rose 3% to $2.563.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.33%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 4.09%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.83%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 3.21%, French CAC 40 rose 3.52% and UK shares rose 2.2%.

Economics

Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 2.51 million in May, while the U.S. unemployment rate contracted 1.4 percentage points in May to 13.3%.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for April will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.