Mid-day market update: Dow surges 200 points, Itron shares tumble following downbeat earnings

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.58% to 34,992.85 while the NASDAQ rose 0.61% to 14,870.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14% to 4,420.81.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 35,330,900 cases with around 614,780 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,812,110 cases and 426,290 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,026,530 COVID-19 cases with 559,600 deaths. In total, there were at least 200,276,440 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,257,050 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 2.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Peabody Energy Corporation BTU 7.58%, up 9% and CONSOL Energy Inc. CEIX 4.47% up 8%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Kellogg Company K 1.42% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Kellogg reported second-quarter FY21 net sales growth of 2.6% year-on-year, to $3.55 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $3.41 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.14 beat the analyst consensus of $1.02.

Kellogg affirmed its FY21 guidance on operating profit, cash flow, and 1%-2% currency-neutral adjusted EPS growth. It sees organic net sales growth of 0-1% in 2021 (prior flat).

Equities Trading UP

Score Media and Gaming Inc. SCR 79.6% shares shot up 76% to $32.01 after the company, and Penn National Gaming, announced they entered into a definitive agreement whereby Penn National will acquire Score Media And Gaming for approximately $2.0 billion in cash and stock.

Shares of Zymergen Inc. ZY 68.12% got a boost, shooting 87% to $15.42. The Cathie Wood-led New York-based investment management firm snapped up 2.46 million shares, estimated to be worth about $20.4 million, in Zymergen on the day shares of the company closed 76.31% lower at $8.25, far below its initial public offering price of $31.

SiTime Corporation SITM 30.5% shares were also up, gaining 33% to $187.97 following better-than-expected Q2 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Inogen, Inc. INGN 32.79% shares tumbled 32% to $55.83 after the company reported Q2 results. Keybanc downgraded Inogen from Overweight to Sector Weight.

Shares of Itron, Inc. ITRI 27.07% were down 28% to $70.76 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results and lowered FY21 forecast.

Nevro Corp. NVRO 24.96% was down, falling 26% to $108.86 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 sales and issued weak Q3 sales guidance. Several analysts downgraded the stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $69.29, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,806.40.

Silver traded down 0.6% Thursday to $25.30 while copper rose 0.6% to $4.3580.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.38%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.52% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.37%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.04%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.56% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.69%.

The IHS Markit/CIPS construction PMI for UK dropped to 58.7 in July versus an all-time high of 66.3 a month ago, while new car registrations dropped 29.5% year-over-year to 123,296 units in July. Eurozone’s construction PMI slipped to 49.8 in July versus 50.3 in the prior month.

Italy’s construction PMI dropped to 55.8 in July from 57.9 in June. French construction PMI slipped to 48.5 in July from 48.9 in the earlier month, while industrial production increased 0.5% in June. The IHS Markit construction PMI for Germany rose to 47.1 in July versus 47 a month ago, while factory orders rose 4.1% in June.

Economics

US-based employers reported job cuts of 18,942 for July, according to the Challenger job-cut report.

US trade deficit widened to a new record of $75.7 billion in June from revised $71.0 billion in the prior month. Exports rose by $1.2 billion to $207.7 billion, while imports climbed by $6.0 billion to $283.4 billion in June.

US initial jobless claims fell to 385,000 in the July 31st week.