Mid-day market update: Silver surges 3%, Galera Therapeutics shares plunge

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.47% to 35,423.05 while the NASDAQ rose 0.59% to 15,110.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.61% to 4,513.69.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,908,210 cases with around 746,500 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,094,370 cases and 452,480 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,651,910 COVID-19 cases with 603,520 deaths. In total, there were at least 242,021,450 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,923,690 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares gained by 1.5% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included HCW Biologics Inc. HCWB +17.67% (Get Free Alerts for HCWB), up 20% and Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. HRMY +13.99% (Get Free Alerts for HRMY) up 15%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Johnson & Johnson JNJ +2.66% reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY21 forecast.

Johnson & Johnson reported quarterly earnings of $2.60 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.36 per share. The company reported quarterly revenue of $23.34 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $23.74 billion.

Johnson & Johnson raised FY21 guidance to overall sales of $94.1 billion - $94.6 billion ($93.8 billion - $94.6 billion previously), including $2.5 billion from COVID-19 vaccine sales. It expects adjusted EPS of $9.77-$9.82, as against the earlier outlook of $9.60 - $9.70, higher than the consensus of $9.66.

Equities Trading UP

HCW Biologics Inc. HCWB +17.67% (Get Free Alerts for HCWB) shares shot up 20% to $3.40.

Shares of Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. HRMY +13.99% (Get Free Alerts for HRMY) got a boost, shooting 15% to $43.93 after it was announced the company will replace Retail Properties of America in the S&P SmallCap 600.

InflaRx N.V. IFRX +9.09% shares were also up, gaining 11% to $2.6913 after the company announced it was awarded an up to roughly $50.7 million grant by the German government to advance the development of vilobelimab for the treatment of severe COVID-19.

Equities Trading DOWN

Galera Therapeutics, Inc. GRTX -69.39% shares tumbled 68% to $2.34 in reaction to disappointing data from the Phase 3 ROMAN trial of avasopasem manganese in severe oral mucositis (SOM) patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing standard-of-care radiotherapy.

Shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AVIR -62.76% were down 62% to $15.35 after the company reported data from the Phase 2 MOONSONG trial of AT-527 in the outpatient setting in patients with mild or moderate COVID-19. The trial did not meet the primary endpoint of clear reduction in SARS-CoV-2 viral load in the overall population compared to placebo.

EverQuote, Inc. EVER -15.74% was down, falling 15% to $14.81 after the company cut third-quarter sales guidance below estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $83.15, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,771.70.

Silver traded up 3% Tuesday to $23.96 while copper fell 0.3% to $4.7135.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.36%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.63% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.33%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.22%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.05% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.43%.

Spanish trade deficit widened to EUR 3.87 billion in August from a EUR 1.73 billion gap in the year-ago month.

Economics

Housing starts dropped by 1.6% to an annual rate of 1.555 million in September, while building permits fell 7.7% to an annual rate of 1.589 million.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.