Benzinga | Jul 20, 2020 02:39PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Turns Positive; Majesco Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.09% to 26696.53 while the NASDAQ rose 1.97% to 10,710.14. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.63% to 3,245.02.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 3,773,260 cases with around 140,530 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,098,380 COVID-19 cases with 79,480 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,118,200 confirmed cases and 27,490 deaths. In total, there were at least 14,508,890 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 606,200 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 2.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Jumia Technologies AG (NYSE:JMIA), up 18%, and Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT), up 16%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Halliburton posted quarterly earnings of $0.05 per share, beating analysts' estimates of a loss of $0.11 per share. The company reported sales of $3.20 billion, missing expectations of $3.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Immuron Limited (NASDAQ:IMRN) shares shot up 132% to $14.75 after guidance from the FDA cleared the way for two clinical studies in 2021 and will help the company with development of an investigational new drug application.

Shares of DPW Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DPW) got a boost, shooting 76% to $3.63 after the company announced it has released a product line of electric vehicle charges.

Majesco (NASDAQ:MJCO) shares were also up, gaining 71% to $13.08 after the company agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $13.10 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

PetMed Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETS) shares tumbled 17% to $33.68 after reporting earnings for the first quarter.

Shares of Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA) were down 20% to $38.85 after the company disclosed a common stock offering.

Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HHT) was down, falling 10% to $1.57 after the company announced a $4.2 million common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $40.87, while gold traded up 0.4% to $ 1,816.80.

Silver traded up 2.5% Monday to $20.255, while copper rose 0.6% to $2.921.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.75%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.51%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.99%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.99%, French CAC 40 rose 0.47% and UK shares fell 0.46%.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.