Mid-day market update: Gold rises 1%, Forte Biosciences shares plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.23% to 35,361.40 while the NASDAQ rose 0.02% to 15,333.95. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.22% to 4,527.17.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 39,550,160 cases with around 643,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,903,280 cases and 439,890 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,830,490 COVID-19 cases with 581,910 deaths. In total, there were at least 219,126,140 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,542,720 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares gained 0.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MongoDB, Inc. MDB 24.32%, up 23% and Aehr Test Systems AEHR 7.57% up 12%.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

The US economy added 235,000 jobs in August, recording the lowest gain in seven months. Analysts, however, were expecting for an addition of 750,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August, in-line with expectations.

Equities Trading UP

Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP 29.63% shares shot up 40% to $7.72. Cellect Biotechnology announced the first ApoGraft transplantation in a Leukemia patient in a clinical trial in the U.S. ApoGraft is designed to prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following bone marrow transplantation.

Shares of MongoDB, Inc. MDB 24.32% got a boost, shooting 23% to $492.95 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued FY22 EPS and sales guidance above estimates.

The L.S. Starrett Company SCX 15.37% shares were also up, gaining 18% to $10.43. L S Starrett reported an FY21 sales increase of 9% year-over-year to $219.64 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Forte Biosciences, Inc. FBRX 81.36% shares tumbled 81% to $5.42 after the company announced the clinical trial of FB-401 for the treatment of atopic dermatitis failed to meet statistical significance. Several analysts downgraded the stock also.

Shares of JOANN Inc. JOAN 16.22% were down 16% to $10.68 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 sales results

Sphere 3D Corp. ANY 25.43% was down, falling 20% to $7.48 after the company announced pricing of a $192.1 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market to help secure the initial order of 60,000 miners.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $69.72, while gold traded up 1% to $1,829.10.

Silver traded up 3.1% Friday to $24.67 while copper rose 0.7% to $4.3350.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.62%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.62%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, French CAC 40 fell 1.07% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.6%.

Eurozone retail sales dropped 2.3% in July following a revised 1.8% gain in June, while composite PMI declined to 59.0 in August from a preliminary reading of 59.5. UK’s services PMI fell to 55.0 in August from a preliminary level of 55.5, while composite PMI declined to 54.8 from 55.3.

French services PMI slipped to 56.3 in August from 56.8 a month ago, while government budget deficit increased to EUR 166.6 billion in January-July. Germany’s services PMI declined to 60.8 in August from a preliminary reading of 61.5. Spain’s services PMI fell to 60.1 in August from 61.9 in July.

Economics

The US economy added 235,000 jobs in August, recording the lowest gain in seven months. Analysts, however, were expecting for an addition of 750,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August, in-line with expectations.

The IHS Markit services PMI dropped to 55.1 in August from July's reading of 59.9. US composite PMI fell to 55.4 in August down from 59.9 in the earlier month.

The ISM services PMI declined to 61.7 in August from a record reading of 64.1 in July.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.