Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Honeywell Earnings Beat Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.61% to 26,496.09 while the NASDAQ fell 1.92% to 10,970.56. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.90% to 3,280.43.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,947,830 cases with around 228,670 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,088,850 confirmed cases and 121,090 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,494,370 COVID-19 cases with 158,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 45,107,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,182,270 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Goosehead Insurance, Inc GSHD, up 15%, and Arch Capital Group Ltd. ACGL, up 4%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 2.1%.

Top Headline

Honeywell International Inc. HON reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Honeywell reported quarterly earnings of $1.56 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.49 per share. The company posted sales of $7.80 billion, surpassing expectations of $7.65 billion.

Honeywell said it expects Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.97 to $2.02 on sales of $8.2 billion to $8.5 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $1.88 per share on sales of $8.41 billion. Honeywell expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $7 to $7.05 on sales of $31.9 billion to $32.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Marine Petroleum Trust MARPS shares shot up 72% to $4.22.

Shares of MoneyGram International, Inc. MGI got a boost, shooting 29% to $5.79 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. ACHC shares were also up, gaining 21% to $35.00 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued strong Q4 earnings guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BLCM shares tumbled 38% to $3.64 after the company priced its 4.15 million shares at $6.025 per share. Wells Fargo downgraded the stock from Overweight to Equal-Weight and announced a price target of $4.5 per share.

Shares of Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd. AXGT were down 37% to $2.31 after the company announced updates to be presented at its virtual Parkinson's disease R&D day, stating individual patient-level data from cohort 2 of the Phase 2 SUNRISE-PD study that is evaluating its AXO-Lenti-PD gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease showed favorable safety and tolerability profile, with no serious adverse events.
The company also said it is unlikely that its planned sham-controlled trial of AXO-Lenti-PD will begin to enroll patients by the end of calendar year 2021.

MicroVision, Inc. MVIS was down, falling 19% to $1.79 after the company reported Q3 earnings results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $36.29, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,875.30.

Silver traded up 0.8% Friday to $23.545 while copper rose 0.3% to $3.0650.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 rose 0.7% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

German gross domestic product climbed by a record 8.2% during the three months to September, while Spain's economy grew 16.7% on quarter in the same period. The French economy grew at a pace of 18.2% in the third quarter.

Economics

US personal income rose 0.9% for September, while spending increased 1.4%.

The Chicago PMI declined to 61.1 in October versus 62.4 in September.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised higher to 81.8 for October versus a preliminary reading of 81.2.

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

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