Benzinga | Oct 29, 2020 10:20AM EDT

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Kraft Heinz Beats Q3 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.07% to 26,537.65 while the NASDAQ rose 0.97% to 11,111.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39% to 3,283.82.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,859,430 cases with around 227,700 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,040,200 confirmed cases and 120,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,468,270 COVID-19 cases with 158,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 44,583,820 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,175,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 1.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS), up 37%, and Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO), up 18%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares tumbled 1%.

Top Headline

Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Kraft Heinz reported quarterly earnings of $0.70 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.62 per share. The company posted sales of $6.44 billion, surpassing expectations of $6.31 billion.

Kraft Heinz raised its FY20 organic net sales growth guidance to high single digit range.



Equities Trading UP

Universal Security Instruments, Inc. (NYSE:UUU) shares shot up 122% to $4.47 after the company announced it received a letter from 9.9% stakeholder Activist Investing threatening shareholder action to prevent delisting and bankruptcy.

Shares of Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) got a boost, shooting 39% to $68.50 after the company reported better-than-projected Q3 results. MKM Partners and JP Morgan upgraded the stock.

Inphi Corporation (NASDAQ:IPHI) shares were also up, gaining 24% to $137.07 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings and also issued strong Q4 guidance. Marvell Technology Group announced plans to buy Inphi in a cash and stock transaction.





Equities Trading DOWN

Tricida, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCDA) shares tumbled 54% to $3.8406 as the company issued an update from end-of-review Type A meeting with the FDA.

Shares of Cancer Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGIX) were down 35% to $2.2350 after the company announced a $2 million bought deal offering priced at $2.20 per share.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:APRN) was down, falling 25% to $4.938 after the company reported Q3 results and issued weak Q4 sales guidance.





Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.1% to $35.86, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,874.40.

Silver traded down 0.9% Thursday to $23.15 while copper fell 0.5% to $3.0480.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.8%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 0.9% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3%.

German unemployment rate came in unchanged at 4.5% in September from the previous month.



Economics

The US economy expanded by an annualized rate of 33.1% in the third quarter, versus analysts' expectations for a 31% growth.

US initial jobless claims fell to 751,000 in the week ended October 24, versus revised reading of 791,000 in the previous week.

Pending home sales climbed 20.5% year-over-year in September.

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 Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.