Mid-day market update: Tilray rises following Q4 results, Höegh LNG Partners shares plunge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08% to 35,029.79 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 14,753.36. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07% to 4,404.46.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 34,606,500 cases with around 611,3050 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 31,484,600 cases and 422,020 deaths, while Brazil reported over 19,749,070 COVID-19 cases with 551,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 195,392,720 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,178,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eventbrite, Inc. EB 3.51%, up 3% and Snap Inc. SNAP 2.97% up 3%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

McDonald's Corporation MCD 2.15% reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

McDonald's reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.08 per share. The company’s revenue came in at $5.89 billion, versus expectations of $5.53 billion. Same-store sales for the company surged40.5% in the second quarter

Equities Trading UP

Grove, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRVI) shares shot up 20% to $5.59 after the company issued preliminary Q4 sales guidance. The company said it sees preliminary Q4 revenue of $10.1 million to $10.4 million, up 300% year-over-year. The company also expects FY21 revenue of $23.6 million to $23.9 million, up 200% year-over-year.

Shares of Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) got a boost, shooting 24% to $15.75 after the company posted its latest financial earnings report Wednesday, touting a spike in both fourth quarter and full fiscal 2021 revenue and a proclamation from CEO Irwin D. Simon that Tilray is "leading the global cannabis industry with low cost of production, leading brands, a well-developed distribution network, and unique partnerships."

Bit Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: BTBT) shares were also up, gaining 28% to $7.54 after tumbling around 34% on Tuesday. Bit Digital and Digihost recently announced they entered into a second strategic co-mining agreement.

Equities Trading DOWN

Höegh LNG Partners LP HMLP 64.44% shares tumbled 62% to $6.83 after the company announced it cut its quarterly distribution from $0.44 to $0.01 per unit. Several firms also downgraded the stock.

Shares of Alset EHome International Inc. (NASDAQ: AEI) were down 34% to $2.24 after the company priced its underwritten public offering of about 6.4 million shares at $2.12 per share and its pre-funded warrants offering of about 8.66 million shares at $2.11 per share.

Bel Fuse Inc. (NASDAQ: BELFB) was down, falling 12% to $11.21. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Strategic Education will replace Bel Fuse in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Tuesday, August 3.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $72.10, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,799.50.

Silver traded up 1.1% Wednesday to $24.92 while copper fell 1.3% to $4.4845.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.61%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.34% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.28%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.31%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.01% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 0.61%.

The consumer confidence in France declined to 101 in July versus a revised reading of 103 in the earlier month. Annual house price growth in the UK fell to 10.5% in July from a seventeen-year high level of 13.4% in the prior month. Import prices in Germany climbed 12.9% annually in June, while consumer climate indicator for Germany came in unchanged at -0.3 for August. Italy's manufacturing confidence index climbed to 115.7 in July from 114.8 in the prior month.

Economics

The US goods trade deficit increased to $91.21 billion in June from $88.16 billion in the earlier month.

US wholesale inventories rose 0.8% month-over-month to $715 billion in June.

US crude oil inventories dropped 4.089 million barrels in the July 23rd week, following a 2.108 million rise in the prior period, the EIA said.

The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.