Benzinga | Sep 24, 2020 10:38AM EDT

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Down; Accenture Misses Q4 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.33% to 26675.70 while the NASDAQ fell 0.31% to 10,600.44. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.27% to 3,228.02.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,935,410 cases with around 201,920 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 5,732,510 confirmed cases and 91,140 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,591,360 COVID-19 cases with 138,100 deaths. In total, there were at least 31,914,770 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 977,100 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares rose 0.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included eXp World Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPI), up 3%, and Clipper Realty Inc. (NYSE:CLPR), up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares tumbled 1.4%.

Top Headline

Accenture Plc (NYSE:GIS) reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Accenture reported quarterly earnings of $1.70 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.73 per share. The company reported sales of $10.84 billion, surpassing expectations of $10.91 billion.

Accenture said it expects Q1 sales of $11.15 billion to $11.55 billion, versus analysts' estimates of $11.52 billion. The company projects FY21 revenue growth of 2%-5% and earnings of $7.80-$8.10 per share.



Equities Trading UP

The Peck Company Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECK) shares shot up 142% to $8.25. Peck and Sunworks previously entered a deal to merge. The stock traded more than 32 times its average daily volume on Wednesday.

Shares of Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI) got a boost, shooting 55% to $21.33 after the company raised its FY20 guidance.

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETE) shares were also up, gaining 58% to $10.19 after Mullen Technologies, its M&A target, announced it will begin construction of an electric vehicle pilot facility and is accepting pre-orders for its MX-05 fully electric SUV starting Oct 1st.

Equities Trading DOWN

Kubient, Inc. (NASDAQ:KBNT) shares tumbled 27% to $2.8639 after the company reported wider Q2 loss.

Shares of Eros STX Global Corp. (NASDAQ:ESGC) were down 29% to $1.6062.

MICT, Inc. (NASDAQ:MICT) was down, falling 28% to $2.76 after declining 22% on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $39.95, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,861.40.

Silver traded down 3.3% Thursday to $22.350 while copper fell 1.4% to $2.9520.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.7%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.8%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 climbed 0.3%, French CAC 40 rose 0.1% and London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.3%.

France reported further improvement in its business confidence, with the country's manufacturing industry climate indicator rising for the fifth month to 96 points in September versus a revised reading of 92 in August.

Economics

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. After declining to 860,000 in the prior week, jobless claims are projected to rise to 880,000 in the recent week.

US new home sales rose 4.8% to an annual rate of 1,011 thousand in August.

US natural-gas supplies rose 66 million cubic feet for the latest week, the Energy Information Administration reported.

The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing index for September will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. The index is expected to decline to 13 in September from 14 in August.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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