Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Bristol-Myers Squibb Tops Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.19% to 23944.49 while the NASDAQ rose 1.11% to 8952.54. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.19% to 2,882.24.

The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 1,228,600 coronavirus cases with around 73,430 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 220,320 coronavirus cases with 25,850 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 214,450 confirmed cases and 29,680 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,769,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 264,110 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed by 2.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP, up 20%, and BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. BSIG, up 14%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Bristol Myers reported quarterly earnings of $1.72 per share, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $1.49. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.80 billion, which surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $10.02 billion.

Bristol Myers reaffirmed its earnings guidance for FY20 and FY21.

Equities Trading UP

Twilio Inc. TWLO shares shot up 35% to $165.24 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and issued Q2 guidance above estimates.

Shares of GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK got a boost, shooting 30% to $12.67. GenMark Diagnostics priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 7.25 million shares at $9.65 per share, to generate gross proceeds of about $70 million.

Fastly, Inc. FSLY shares were also up, gaining 30% to $30.02 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales and issued Q2 and FY20 guidance above estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vista Outdoor Inc. VSTO shares tumbled 27% to $7.07 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 sales and issued downbeat Q1 guidance.

Shares of SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX were down 23% to $2.55 after the company priced 6 million share public offering of common stock at $2.50 per share.

MacroGenics, Inc. MGNX was down, falling 19% to $20.42. MacroGenics shares jumped 231% on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 9.4% to $26.24, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,697.80.

Silver traded up 0.8% Thursday to $15.14, while copper rose 1.2% to $2.3745.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.8%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.9%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.8% while UK shares rose 0.9%.

Economics

Around 3.17 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the latest week. However, analysts expected a reading of 3 million.

U.S. nonfarm productivity declined an annualized 2.5% in the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 5.5% drop. Unit labor costs rose an annualized 4.8% in the quarter.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.