Mid-day market update: Dow gains 100 points; Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY Stock) shares plummet

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.32% to 32,930.37while the NASDAQ fell 1.08% to 13,325.62. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.39% to 3,947.09.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,549,550 cases with around 536,920 deaths. Brazil reported over 11,603,530 COVID-19 cases with 282,120 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 11,438,730 cases and 159,040 deaths. In total, there were at least 120,791,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,672,480 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares rose 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Willis Lease Finance Corporation WLFC 27.38%, up 25%, and Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. NM 27.25%, up 17%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

Cintas Corporation CTAS 2.59% reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Cintas posted quarterly earnings of $2.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.21 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.78 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.75 billion.

Cintas said it expects Q4 EPS of $2.20-$2.40 versus analysts’ estimates of $2.18. The company projects sales of $1.8 billion-$1.83 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Immatics N.V. IMTX 27.73% shares shot up 30% to $15.10 after the company announced a clinical data update from the dose escalation cohorts of the company's ongoing Phase 1 trials for its engineered Adoptive Cell Therapy.

Shares of FSD Pharma Inc. HUGE 15.46% got a boost, shooting 13% to $2.33 as the company entered into a license agreement to develop FDA approved veterinary drugs for the treatment of gastro-intestinal diseases in dogs and cats..

Mistras Group, Inc. MG 14.59% shares were also up, gaining 13% to $11.80 after the company reported-better-than-expected Q4 results.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

IMV Inc. IMV 18.72% shares tumbled 17% to $3.24 after the company reported a wider FY20 loss.

Shares of Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. RUBY 17.95% were down 18% to $26.32 after the company priced its 6.9 million share common stock at $29 per share. Rubius Therapeutics recently reported initial data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of RTX-240 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

South Jersey Industries, Inc. SJI 16.39% was down, falling 17% to $23.08 after the company announced a $225 million common stock and equity units offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $64.22, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,725.20.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $25.97 while copper rose 1.1% to $4.1180.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.45%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.69% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.18%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.06%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.51% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.04%.

Demand for new passenger cars in the European Union dipped 19.3% annually to 771,486 units in February.

Economics

Housing starts dropped 10.3% to an annualized rate of 1.421 million in February, while building permits dipped 10.8% to an annual rate of 1.682 million in February.

US crude oil inventories increased 2.396 million barrels fir the week ended March 12, following a 13.798-million rise in the previous week, the Energy Information Administration said.

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

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