Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls Over 100 Points; Amarin Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.63% to 22,186.76 while the NASDAQ fell 0.20% to 7,758.84. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.68% to 2,608.79.

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 164,600 coronavirus cases with around 3,100 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 101,700 confirmed cases and 11,500 deaths, while Spain confirmed a total of over 87,900 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported 48 new cases on Monday. In total, there are at least 800,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 38,700 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PBF Logistics LP PBFX, up 27%, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited CNQ, up 20%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares dipped 4.9%.

Top Headline

McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC reported upbeat earnings for first third quarter, while sales missed views.

McCormick reported quarterly earnings of $1.08 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.04 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.212 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.23 billion.

Equities Trading UP

SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX shares shot up 159% to $5.33 after the company reported Q4 results. Adjusted EBITDA loss came in at $720,000, versus a year-ago loss of $1.6 million. The company’s revenue declined to $337,000, from $2.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. EYEG got a boost, shooting 23% to $5.03 after the company announced topline data in follow-on dry eye pilot study.

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. KNSA shares were also up, gaining 29% to $15.73 after the company reported 'early evidence of treatment response' with mavrilimumab in 6 patients with severe coronavirus pneumonia and hyperinflammation.

Equities Trading DOWN

Amarin Corporation plc AMRN shares tumbled 71% to $3.9950 as the court ruled against its patent for heart treatment drug Vascepa. The United States District Court for the District of Nevada in Las Vegas ruled that six patents on Vascepa, which were all set to expire in 2030, are invalid, as earlier reported by Bloomberg.

Shares of Huitao Technology Co., Ltd. HHT were down 55% to $0.45. Huitao Technology priced its 2.7 million share offering at $0.55 per share.

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. SHIP was down, falling 54% to $0.1546 after gaining over 38% on Monday. Seanergy Maritime priced its 35.29 million unit offering at $0.17 per unit.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 3.1% to $20.71, while gold traded down 2.3% to $1,605.20.

Silver traded up 0.5% Tuesday to $14.195, while copper rose 3.4% to $2.2295.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.65% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.88%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.06%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.22%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.40% while UK shares rose 1.95%.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.3% during the first four weeks of March versus February.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 3.1% year-over-year in January, versus a 2.8% increase in the prior month.

The Chicago PMI fell to 47.8 for March, versus prior reading of 49.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index declined to 120 in March, versus revised reading of 132.6.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.