Benzinga | Oct 13, 2020 12:18PM EDT

Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Down 2%; Medigus Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.25% to 28,766.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.19% to 11,899.41. The S&P also fell, falling 0.28% to 3,524.36.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,804,640 cases with around 215,080 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,175,880 confirmed cases and 109,850 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,103,400 COVID-19 cases with 150,680 deaths. In total, there were at least 37,841,550 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,081,330 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), up 5%, and Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ:BAND), up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 1.6%.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings of $2.92 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $2.23 per share. The company posted sales of $29.10 billion, surpassing expectations of $28.29 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) shares shot up 25% to $15.73. Altimmune yesterday published positive pre-clinical data on its new COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Shares of J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) got a boost, shooting 35% to $0.9249 after TowerBrook disclosed a 70.4% active stake in the company.

Medigus Ltd. (NASDAQ:MDGS) shares were also up, gaining 69% to $3.19 after the company announced it was informed by Smart Repair Pro that all of Amazon's required regulatory processes were completed, which allows for the opening of its store in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.



Equities Trading DOWN

Gossamer Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOSS) shares tumbled 34% to $8.98 after the company announced the results from its Phase 2 LEDA trial of oral GB001 in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis did not meet the primary endpoint.

Shares of Loop Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOOP) were down 36% to $7.41 after Hindenburg Researched released a negative short-seller report on the company.

Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE:RCL) was down, falling 11% to $62.14 after the company announced a $500 million common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $40.05, while gold traded down 2% to $1,890.90.

Silver traded down 4.1% Tuesday to $24.245 while copper fell 0.8% to $3.0385.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.67%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.05%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.97%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 1.11%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.78% and London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.66%.

The UK unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in the three months to August compared to 4.1% in the prior period, while labor productivity declined 2% in the second quarter, versus a preliminary estimate of a 2.5% drop. The UK government also announced new restrictions to contain the rise in coronavirus cases. Consumer prices in Germany declined the most since 2015, falling 0.2% year-over-year in September.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index climbed to 104 in September versus 100.2 in August.

Annual inflation rate in the US rose to 1.4% in September 1.3% in August.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.4% for the first week of October versus September.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 12:25 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget statement for September is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 8:25 p.m. ET.