Benzinga | Sep 22, 2020 10:11AM EDT

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; AutoZone Beats Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.01% to 27145.99 while the NASDAQ rose 0.32% to 10,813.31. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.30% to 3,290.76.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,858,130 cases with around 199,890 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 5,562,660 confirmed cases and 88,930 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,558,040 COVID-19 cases with 137,270 deaths. In total, there were at least 31,346,080 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 965,290 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA), up 31%, and GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), up 14%.

In trading on Monday, health care shares tumbled 0.5%.

Top Headline

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

AutoZone reported quarterly earnings of $30.93 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $24.79 per share. The company reported sales of $4.50 billion, surpassing expectations of $4.15 billion. AutoZone's quarterly same store sales climbed 21.8%.



Equities Trading UP

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) shares shot up 27% to $220.46 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $178 to $205. Carvana said it expects a record performance in the third quarter.

Shares of AIM ImmunoTech Inc. (NYSE:AIM) got a boost, shooting 19% to $2.43 after the company announced receipt of statistically significant positive pancreatic cancer survival results from a multiyear Early Access Program conducted at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ:BLNK) shares were also up, gaining 19% to $9.42 after the company reported the sale and deployment of 539 electric vehicle charging stations across 24 states and 4 countries during the summer.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vaccinex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCNX) shares tumbled 57% to $2.3550 after the company reported results of Phase 2 SIGNAL study in Huntington's disease.

Shares of FTS International, Inc. (NYSE:FTSI) were down 16% to $3.71 after the company said it amended and restated restructuring support deal with creditors.

Adicet Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACET) was down, falling 16% to $11.37. Adicet Bio shares dropped 37% on Monday after reporting a proposed 4.5 million share public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $39.94, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,912.60.

Silver traded up 0.3% Tuesday to $24.465 while copper rose 1.4% to $3.0745.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 1.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 climbed 1.1%, French CAC 40 surged 0.5% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

The German economy is expected to contract 5.2% this year, the Ifo Institute said. The Ifo had earlier expected a 6.7% contraction.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 0.9% during the first three weeks of September versus August.

U.S. existing home sales for August rose 2.4% to an annual rate of 6 million units in August.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to testify before the Joint Economic Committee at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.