Benzinga | Aug 6, 2020 12:02PM EDT

Mid-Day Market Update: OraSure Technologies Drops Following Downbeat Q2 Results; American Virtual Cloud Technologies Shares Gain

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 27,205.15 while the NASDAQ fell 0.04% to 10,993.72. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.14% to 3,323.09.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,824,170 cases with around 158,260 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,859,070 COVID-19 cases with 97,250 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,964,530 confirmed cases and 40,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 18,835,980 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 708,270 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares gained 1.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:QNST), up 8%, and Pearson plc (NYSE:PSO), up 8%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 1.1%.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its earnings guidance.

The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.63 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.48 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.10 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $9.97 billion.

Bristol-Myers Squibb said it now expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $6.10-$6.25, versus earlier forecast of $6.00-$6.20.

Equities Trading UP

American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVCT) shares shot up 78% to $8.62 after the company reported that it will buy Ribbon's Kandy Communications Business.

Shares of ADiTx Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTX) got a boost, shooting 95% to $7.66 after the company reported introduction of AditxtScore for COVID-19 and announced completion of validation studies by Stanford Blood Center.

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL) shares were also up, gaining 49% to $0.2886. CBL & Associates Properties reported that it has made $30.4 million in interest payments.

Equities Trading DOWN

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) shares tumbled 27% to $3.40. LightPath said it expects preliminary Q4 sales between $8.7 million and $9.1 million.

Shares of OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR) were down 39% to $11.85 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q2 results.

MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS) was down, falling 26% to $1.87 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q2 loss.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $42.10, while gold traded up 0.7% to $2,064.20.

Silver traded up 4.3% Thursday to $28.035, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.9015.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.75%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.26%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.37%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.39%, French CAC 40 fell 0.87% and UK shares fell 1.26%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined to 1.19 million in the latest week from 1.44 million.

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