Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Down; AT&T Tops Q1 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.38% to 34,006.89 while the NASDAQ fell 0.19% to 13,924.37. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 4,164.51.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 31,862,980 cases with around 569,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 15,930,770 cases and 184,650 deaths, while Brazil reported over 14,122,790 COVID-19 cases with 381,470 deaths. In total, there were at least 143,962,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,061,470 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 0.3% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC, up 5%, and AT&T Inc. T, up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

AT&T Inc. T reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.

AT&T reported quarterly earnings of $0.86 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.78 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $43.94 billion, versus expectations of $42.69 billion.

AT&T expects a 1% annual consolidated revenue growth and stable EPS with FY20.

Equities Trading UP

Teradata Corporation TDC shares shot up 33% to $52.88 after the company boosted its Q1 earnings guidance.

Shares of Renalytix AI plc RNLX got a boost, shooting 21% to $30.55 after the company announced that the U.S. government has granted the company a 10-year Governmentwide Acquisition Contract to provide KidneyIntelX early stage kidney disease bioprognostic testing services.

Takung Art Co., Ltd. TKAT shares were also up, gaining 18% to $24.13.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Evolus, Inc. EOLS shares tumbled 17% to $9.67 after the company priced its public offering of 9 million shares of its common stock at a price of $9.50 per share for raising gross proceeds of about $85.5 million.

Shares of Sleep Number Corporation SNBR were down 13% to $ 108.99 after the company reported Q1 earnings results.

Fisker Inc FSR was down, falling 10% to $13.76 after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from Neutral to Sell and lowered its price target from $15 to $10.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $61.00, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,787.10.

Silver traded down 0.5% Thursday to $26.44 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.2825.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.7% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.6%.

Italy's industrial sales increased 0.2% in February following a revised 2.6% rise in January. French manufacturing climate indicator climbed to 104 in April from a revised reading of 99 in March. Eurozone’s government deficit to GDP ratio climbed to 7.2% in 2020 compared to 0.6% in 2019. UK’s CBI's quarterly gauge of manufacturing optimism surged to 38 in the second quarter, compared to -22 in the earlier three-month period.

Economics

US initial jobless claims fell to 547,000 in the week ending April 17th.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index surged to 1.71 in March from a revised reading of -1.2 in February.

US existing home sales dropped 3.7% to an annual rate of 6.01 million for March.

The index of leading economic indicators increased 1.3% for March.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing index for April is scheduled for release at 11:00 a.m. ET. The index is expected to remain unchanged at 26 in April.

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

Check out the full economic calendar here