Mid-day market update: Dow jumps over 500 points, Eargo shares plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.58% to 34,798.08 while the NASDAQ rose 1.02% to 15,048.82. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.33% to 4,454.02.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 42,545,220 cases with around 681,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,563,420 cases and 446,050 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,283,560 COVID-19 cases with 592,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 230,147,170 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,720,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 3% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Camber Energy, Inc. CEI +22.6% (Get Free Alerts for CEI), up 14% and NextDecade Corporation NEXT +9.66% (Get Free Alerts for NEXT) up 14%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Accenture plc ACN +2.7% reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Accenture reported quarterly earnings of $2.20 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.19 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $13.40 billion, versus analysts’ expectations of $13.42 billion. Accenture also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.88 to $0.97 per share.

Accenture repurchased shares worth $915 million in Q4. The board approved $3.0 billion of additional share repurchase. Accenture said it sees Q1 sales of $13.9 billion to $14.35 billion, versus estimates of $13.51 billion.

Equities Trading UP

MEDIROM Healthcare Technologies Inc. MRM +53.2% shares shot up 72% to $12.72 following news the company will buy ZACC Kabushiki Kaisha for $3.362 million.

Shares of TransCode Therapeutics, Inc. RNAZ +77.48% got a boost, shooting 78% to $4.67 after preclinical research supporting its lead candidate, TTX-MC138, was published in Cancer Nanotechnology. The preclinical study developed a radio-labeled derivative of TTX-MC138 tagged with Cu-64 for highly sensitive and specific quantitative determination of its pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and observation, delivered to metastases via noninvasive positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI).

BlackBerry Limited BB +12.24% shares were also up, gaining 12% to $10.65. BlackBerry reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Eargo, Inc. EAR +68.64% shares tumbled 70% to $6.56 after the company disclosed it was the target of a Dept. of Justice criminal investigation. The company also withdrew its FY21 guidance. JP Morgan and Wells Fargo also downgraded the stock.

Shares of Flux Power Holdings, Inc. FLUX +21.54% were down 20% to $6.00. Flux Power reported a $15 million registered direct offering priced at a premium to market.

Aterian, Inc. ATER +27.12% was down, falling 20% to $13.34. Aterian reported a seal with its lender High Trail to pay down outstanding secured term debt of $66.3 million plus accrued and unpaid interest.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $73.44, while gold traded down 1.7% to $1,749.20.

Silver traded down 1% Thursday to $22.67 while copper fell 0.7% to $4.2245.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.93%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.81% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.85%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.09%, French CAC 40 jumped 0.95% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 1.41%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI declined to 58.7 in September from August’s reading of 61.4, while services PMI slipped to 56.3 from 59.

The UK flash composite PMI slipped to 54.1 in September from 54.8 in August, while French composite PMI declined to 55.1 from 55.9. German composite PMI dropped to 55.3 in September versus 60 in August. Spanish gross domestic product grew 1.1% on quarter during the three months to June.

Economics

US initial jobless claims rose to 351,000 in the week ending September 18.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index dropped to 0.29 in August from a revised reading of 0.75 in July.

The IHS Markit services PMI dropped to 54.4 in September from 55.1 in August, while manufacturing PMI declined to 60.5 in September from 61.1 in August.

The index of leading economic indicators for August is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. After July's 0.9% growth, a 0.6% rise is expected for August.

US natural-gas supplies climbed 76 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing production index dropped to 10 in September from 22 in the prior month.