Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; US Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.9% In September

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.73% to 27613.64 while the NASDAQ fell 0.92% to 11222.86. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.70% to 3,357.14.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,279,060 cases with around 207,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,394,060 confirmed cases and 99,770 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,847,090 COVID-19 cases with 144,680 deaths. In total, there were at least 34,324,200 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,023,450 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped 0.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Lithium Americas Corp. LAC, up 15%, and Avient Corporation AVNT, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

The nonfarm payroll number came in at +661,000, worse than consensus expectations of +800,000.

The unemployment rate decreased 0.5% to 7.9%. Average hourly earnings were up less than 0.1% in the month to $29.47. The leisure and hospitality industry led the gains in September by adding 318,000 jobs, more than any other industry.

Equities Trading UP

American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. ARA shares shot up 67% to $11.53 after the company reported an $11.50 per share cash offer from Nautic Partners.

Shares of IDT Corporation IDT got a boost, shooting 43% to $9.850 after reporting higher earnings and sales for the fourth quarter.

Nano-X Imaging Ltd. NNOX shares were also up, gaining 39% to $33.20 after the company announced it will demonstrate its novel technology and medical imaging system at RSNA 2020, which is being held from November 29th to December 5th in Chicago.

Equities Trading DOWN

Benitec Biopharma Inc. BNTC shares tumbled 39% to $3.00 as the company priced 3.23 million shares at $3.10 per share.

Shares of Mesoblast Limited MESO were down 36% to $11.87 after the company said the FDA issued a complete response letter to its BLA for remestemcel-L for the treatment of pediatric steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease. The FDA has sought the company conduct at least one additional study in adults and/or children to provide further evidence of the effectiveness of remestemcel-L for SR-aGVHD.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. ARQT was down, falling 14% to $23.69 after the company announced pricing of share public offering and 1.4 million share concurrent private placement of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.1% to $37.13, while gold traded up 0.8% to $1,911.30.

Silver traded up 1.8% Friday to $23.920 while copper fell 5.1% to $2.8770.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.8%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.9%, French CAC 40 fell 0.8% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7%.

Economics

The US economy added 661,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined to 7.9%. Economists were expecting a gain of 800,000 jobs last month.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 80.4 in September versus a preliminary reading of 78.9.

U.S. factory orders increased 0.7% for August.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.