Mid-day market update: SeaChange international falls after Q2 results; Akers Biosciences shares gain

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 2.09% to 23153.23 while the NASDAQ rose 0.74% to 7971.76. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.59% to 2705.96.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. U.S. reported a total of 368,400 coronavirus cases with around 10,900 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 140,500 coronavirus cases with 13,700 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 132,500 confirmed cases and 16,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 1,359,300 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 75,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 5.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Western Midstream Partners, LP WES 32.82%, up 27%, and DCP Midstream, LP DCP 26.03%, up 20%.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares rose by just 0.2%.

Top Headline

Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX 18.09% reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.

Greenbrier reported quarterly earnings of $0.46 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.29 per share. The company’s sales came in at $623.8 million, missing the consensus view of $798.97 million.

Greenbrier has lowered its global workforce by 3,500 employees. The company announced plans to suspend earlier issued guidance and cut overhead costs.

Equities Trading UP

Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER 30.21% shares shot up 25% to $5.87. Akers Biosciences filed amendment to $25 million offering of stock and debt securities. Akers Biosciences shares jumped around 147% on Monday following an update from the company regarding its COVID-19 vaccine development program.

Shares of Borr Drilling Limited BORR 113.89% got a boost, shooting 54% to $1.22 after surging over 37% on Monday.

Sasol Limited SSL 72.1% shares were also up, gaining 57% to $3.9919 amid hopes of production cuts by key producers to sustain prices, as well as positive economic sentiment on a potential leveling off of coronavirus cases in some regions.

Equities Trading DOWN

SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC 25.9% shares tumbled 24% to $2.7750 after reporting weaker-than-expected Q4 results.

Shares of Chimera Investment Corporation CIM 17.84% were down 17% to $6.79 after the company reported a public offering of convertible senior notes.

Golar LNG Limited GLNG 21.15% was down, falling 15% to $5.16.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $26.32, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,691.30.

Silver traded up 2.4% Tuesday to $15.525, while copper rose 2.4% to $2.2715.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.2% while UK shares rose 1.4%.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.9% during March versus February.

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index declined 6.2 points to a reading of 47.8 in April.

The number of US job openings fell by 130,000 to 6.882 million in February, versus a revised 7.012 million in the earlier month.

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