Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Jumps 100 Points; Jasper Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher
Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 34,398.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.70% to 14,566.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.31% to 4,364.35.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,431,160 cases with around 737,580 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,001,740 cases and 451,220 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,590,090 COVID-19 cases with 601,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 239,595,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,884,230 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Materials shares gained by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Found Gold Corp. (NYSE: NFGC), up 12% and Standard Lithium Ltd. (NYSE: SLI) up 10%.
In trading on Wednesday, financials shares fell 0.8%.
Top Headline
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.
JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings of $3.74 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.00 per share. The bank reported quarterly net revenue of $29.65 billion and managed net revenue of $30.441 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $29.79 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JSPR) shares shot up 122% to $16.01 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a $21 price target.
Shares of Waitr Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WTRH) got a boost, shooting 48% to $1.19 after Morgan Stanley reported a 10.3% passive stake in the company.
Clarus Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRXT) shares were also up, gaining 30% to $5.34 after Truist Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $10 price target.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Regulus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLS) shares tumbled 30% to $0.5334 after the company announced a strategic prioritization of its next-generation candidate, RGLS8429, for the treatment of ADPKD. The company's previous ADPKD candidate, RGLS4326, will no longer be advanced.
Shares of NeuroOne Medical Technologies Corporation. (NASDAQ: NMTC) were down 30% to $2.90 after the company priced a 3.75 million share common stock offering at $3.20 per share.
Neuronetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: STIM) was down, falling 19% to $5.18 after the company cut Q3 and FY21 sales guidance below estimates. BTIG downgraded Neuronetics from Buy to Neutral.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $80.51, while gold traded up 1.9% to $1,793.30.
Silver traded up 2.6% Wednesday to $23.105 while copper rose 3.9% to $4.4950.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.70%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.61% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.68%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.16%, French CAC 40 rose 0.75% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.12%.
Industrial output in the Eurozone fell 1.6% in August, while factory output in the UK rose 4.1% year-over-year in August. Exports from the UK fell 2% to GBP 49.8 billion in August, while imports slipped 0.5% to GBP 53.5 billion. Industrial production in the UK increased 0.8% in August, while the country’s gross domestic product grew 2.9% on quarter during the three months to August. German consumer price inflation rate was confirmed at 4.1% year-over-year in September.
Economics
The annual inflation rate rose to a 13-year high of 5.4% in September versus 5.3% in the previous month.
The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.
Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Check out the full economic calendar here
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