Benzinga | Aug 20, 2020 12:22PM EDT

Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1%; OpGen Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.03% to 27702.48 while the NASDAQ rose 0.74% to 11,229.31. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18% to 3,381.04.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 5,530,240 cases with around 173,190 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 3,456,650 COVID-19 cases with 111,100 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 2,836,920 confirmed cases and 53,860 deaths. In total, there were at least 22,427,930 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 788,030 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares gained 1.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Service Properties Trust (NYSE:SVC), up 6%, and Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE:RLGY), up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR (NYSE:BABA) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Alibaba reported quarterly earnings of $2.10 per share, surpassing analysts' estimates of $1.99 per share. The company's sales came in at $21.76 billion, exceeding expectations of $21.34 billion.

Equities Trading UP

OpGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPGN) shares shot up 27% to $2.6050 after the company announced its subsidiary obtained the CE mark certification in the European Union for its own SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Shares of AutoWeb, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUTO) got a boost, shooting 19% to $3.2549 after the company said it sees preliminary July sales at $6.1 million. B. Riley FBR and Lake Street upgraded the stock to Buy.

Naked Brand Group Limited (NASDAQ:NAKD) shares were also up, gaining 39% to $0.349 after the company announced an agreement with St. George Investments amending the convertible promissory note issued by the company in February 2020.

Equities Trading DOWN

Opera Limited (NASDAQ:OPRA) shares tumbled 20% to $8.30 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results.

Shares of Sypris Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYPR) were down 31% to $1.275. Sypris Solutions won an order for Alberta XPress gas project.

Teligent, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLGT) was down, falling 19% to $1.6350. Craig-Hallum downgraded Teligent from Buy to Hold. Teligent reported a Q2 loss on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $42.47, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,958.20.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $27.335, while copper fell 1.7% to $2.9705.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.06%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.36%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.44%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 1.14%, French CAC 40 fell 1.33% and UK shares fell 1.61%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased to 1.11 million in the latest week, versus 971,000 in the previous week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dropped 7 points to a reading of 17.2 in August.

The index of leading economic indicators increased 1.4% for July.

Natural-gas supplies rose 43 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 14, the Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts projected a gain of 39 billion cubic feet.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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