Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.19% to 27146.99 while the NASDAQ rose 0.25% to 10968.86. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.54% to 3,324.27.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,771,840 cases with around 156,850 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,801,920 COVID-19 cases with 95,810 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,908,250 confirmed cases and 39,790 deaths. In total, there were at least 18,566,760 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 701,270 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Materials shares gained 2.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Freeport-McMoRan Inc. FCX 8.18%, up 10%, and O-I Glass, Inc. OI 8.29%, up 10%.
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.6%.
Top Headline
CVS Health Corp CVS 1.35% reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its guidance.
The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.64 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.92 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $65.30 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $64.18 billion.
CVS said it now expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $7.14-$7.27 versus prior guidance of $7.04-$7.17.
Equities Trading UP
MYOS RENS Technology Inc. MYOS 53.09% shares shot up 52% to $1.89 after the company reported a narrower loss for the second quarter.
Shares of LivePerson, Inc. LPSN 22.46% got a boost, shooting 21% to $56.08 after the company after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 sales and raised its FY20 guidance. KeyBanc, Benchmark and Needham also raised their price targets on the stock.
Key Tronic Corporation KTCC 22.92% shares were also up, gaining 25% to $9.02 after the company reported a year-over-year rise in Q4 earnings and sales. The company also said it expects FY21 EPS of $0.18-$0.25 and sales of $118 million-$125 million.
Equities Trading DOWN
Vapotherm, Inc. VAPO 40.22% shares tumbled 39% to $32.25 after the company reported Q2 results and issued Q3 sales guidance.
Shares of New Relic, Inc. NEWR 24.01% were down 26% to $54.62 after the company issued weak Q2 EPS guidance. JP Morgan also downgraded the company's stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered its price target from $72 to $61.
EverQuote, Inc. EVER 17.36% was down, falling 21% to $43.00 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results and announced plans to acquire Crosspointe Insurance Advisors.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 3.4% to $43.12, while gold traded up 1.8% to $2,058.00.
Silver traded up 3.5% Wednesday to $26.94, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.9265.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.48%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.27%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.64%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.43%, French CAC 40 rose 0.83% and UK shares rose 1.07%.
Economics
US private businesses hired 167,000 workers in July, versus a revised rise of 4.3 million in June.
The US trade deficit shrank to $50.7 billion in June versus $54.8 billion in the prior month. Exports rose 9.4%, while imports increased 4.7% for June.
The IHS Markit services PMI rose to 50.0 in July versus a preliminary estimate of 49.6 and up from June's final reading of 47.9.
The ISM non-manufacturing PMI climbed to 58.1 in July versus 57.1 in the prior month.
U.S. crude stocks dropped 7.4 million barrels in the week ended July 31, the Energy Information Administration reported. Gasoline inventories gained 419,000 barrels, while distillate supplies rose 1.6 million barrels last week.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester is set to speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.
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