Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; CarMax Profit Beats Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 33,048.65 while the NASDAQ rose 1.46% to 13,440.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.67% to 3,999.52.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 30,460,830 cases with around 552,070 deaths. Brazil reported over 12,748,740 COVID-19 cases with 321,510 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 12,221,660 cases and 162,920 deaths. In total, there were at least 129,006,800 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,817,930 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Information technology shares rose 1.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited KC, up 13%, and Ideanomics, Inc. IDEX, up 12%.


In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 0.6%.


Top Headline

CarMax, Inc. KMX reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

CarMax posted quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.26 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $5.16 billion, versus expectations of $5.17 billion.

CarMax also announced plans to acquire remaining stake in Edmunds for $404 million.

 

Equities Trading UP


Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. LTRPB shares shot up 158% to $95.29 after climbing 42% on Wednesday.


Shares of Universe Pharmaceuticals INC UPC got a boost, shooting 61% to $6.47. Universe Pharmaceuticals reported full exercise of underwriter's over-allotment option in the public offering.


AeroCentury Corp. ACY shares were also up, gaining 44% to $5.12. The company recently reported that it filed a petition for a Chapter 11 reorganization.


Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

Akumin Inc. AKU shares tumbled 18% to $3.05 after the company reported Q4 results and issued 2021 forecast.

Shares of CTI BioPharma Corp. CTIC were down 14% to $2.5050 after the company reported the pricing of its public offering of common stock and preferred stock.

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. BTAI was down, falling 13% to $37.48 after the company reported topline results from the Phase 1b/2 proof-of-concept study of its investigational asset BXCL501 that is being evaluated for the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $60.21, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,715.80.


Silver traded down 0.5% Thursday to $24.41 while copper fell 0.6% to $3.9710.


Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.1%.

The Eurozone manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 62.5 for March versus a preliminary reading of 62.4. The UK’s manufacturing PMI increased to 58.9 in March from a preliminary reading of 57.9, while German manufacturing PMI rose to 66.6 in March from 60.7 in February.

French manufacturing PMI climbed to 59.3 in March from 56.1 in February, while Spain’s manufacturing PMI increased to 56.9 from 52.9.


Economics


US initial jobless claims climbed to 719,000 in the week ended March 27, from 658,000 in the prior week.


The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 59.1 in March from a preliminary reading of 59.


The ISM manufacturing PMI surged to 64.7 in March from 60.8 in February.


US construction spending fell 0.8% for February.


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.


The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.


Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.


Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

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Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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