Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Gains 50 Points; RenalytixAI Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.59% to 29,867.71 while the NASDAQ rose 0.42% to 12,086.94. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 3,627.83.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 12,597,500 cases with around 259,970 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,222,210 confirmed cases and 134,690 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,118,700 COVID-19 cases with 170,110 deaths. In total, there were at least 59,850,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,411,210 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 0.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tuniu Corporation (NASDAQ: TOUR), up 19%, and Jumia Technologies AG - ADR (NYSE: JMIA), up 22%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Deere posted quarterly earnings of $2.39 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.49 per share. The company reported sales of $9.73 billion, exceeding expectations of $8.6

billion.

Deere said it sees FY21 net income of $3.6 billion to $4.0 billion.

Equities Trading UP

AnPac Bio-Medical Science Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: ANPC) shares shot up 89% to $6.61 after the company issued strong sales forecast for FY20.

Shares of Renalytix AI plc (NASDAQ: RNLX) got a boost, shooting 30% to $13.90 after the company's Kantaro Biosciences joint venture received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-SeroKlir antibody test kit.

WidePoint Corporation (NYSE: WYY) shares were also up, gaining 45% to $11.88 after the company announced a $500 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security.

Equities Trading DOWN

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) shares tumbled 20% to $21.56 after the company reported downbeat quarterly earnings.

Shares of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: HEPA) were down 24% to $1.65 after the company priced 20 million share public offering at $1.50 per share.

Aurora Mobile Limited (NASDAQ: JG) was down, falling 13% to $3.1750 after reporting Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $46.10, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,805.50.

Silver traded up 0.3% Wednesday to $23.365 while copper rose 0.2% to $3.3075.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.08%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.26%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.72%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.02%, French CAC 40 rose 0.23% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.64%.

Producer prices in Spain fell 4.1% year-over-year in October versus a 3.3% decline in the prior month.

Economics

US durable goods orders rose 1.3% month-over-month in October.

The US economy expanded by an annualized rate of 33.1% in the third quarter.

The US goods trade deficit increased to $80.29 billion in October from $79.36 billion in the earlier month.

US initial jobless claims rose 778,000 in the week ended November 21, versus a revised level of 748,000 in the previous week.

Wholesale inventories rose 0.9% in October.

US crude oil inventories fell 0.754 million barrels in the week ended November 20 versus a 0.768 million rise in the prior period.

Personal spending rose 0.5% in October, while personal income declined 0.7%.

New home sales declined 0.3% to an annual rate of 999,000 in October.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised lower to 76.9 in November versus a preliminary of reading of 77.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 10 to 241 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.