Benzinga | Jul 31, 2020 12:40PM EDT

Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Surges 2.5%; Tiziana Life Sciences Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.70% to 26130.70 while the NASDAQ rose 0.36% to 10625.88. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.41% to 3,232.78.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,495,220 cases with around 152,070 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,610,100 COVID-19 cases with 91,260 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,638,320 confirmed cases and 35,740 deaths. In total, there were at least 17,321,390 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 673,820 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares gained 1.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Superior Group of Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGC), up 12%, and Jumia Technologies AG (NYSE:JMIA), up 19%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled by 2.6%.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and announced a four-for-one stock split.

The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.58 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $2.04 per share. Revenue jumped 11% year-over-year to $59.7 billion, exceeding the consensus expectations of $52.25 billion.

Apple's flagship product, the iPhone, fetched revenues of $26.42 billion, contributing 44.3% to the top-line. Mac, iPad and wearables, home and accessories accounted for $7.08 billion, $6.58 billion and $6.45 billion of revenues, respectively.

Equities Trading UP

Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONN) shares shot up 76% to $5.12. Plasma stocks traded higher after President Donald Trump encouraged Americans who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their convalescent blood plasma as a treatment for the virus. Sonnet Biotherapeutics, last week, reported preclinical results from initial efficacy study exploring combination of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor with interleukins 18 and 12.

Shares of Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (NASDAQ:TLSA) got a boost, shooting 60% to $7.90 after the company said it has submitted a patent application for the potential use of nasally administered Foralumab, a fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of COVID-19, either alone or in combination with other anti-viral drugs.

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZN) shares were also up, gaining 98% to $0.54 after the company disclosed that it has received drilling plan approval for next well in Israel.

Equities Trading DOWN

Precipio, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRPO) shares tumbled 50% to $3.50. Precipio shares jumped 469% on Thursday after the company reported the commercial launch of coronavirus antibody test.

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) were down 24% to $2.648 after the company reported downbeat quarterly sales. The company also reported a loss for the second quarter.

Socket Mobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCKT) was down, falling 26% to $1.7350 after the company reported after the company reported a Q2 loss of $0.13 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $0.02 per share

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $39.95, while gold traded up 2.5% to $1,992.40.

Silver traded up 4% Friday to $24.285, while copper fell 1% to $2.885.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.88%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.7%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.71%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.54%, French CAC 40 fell 1.43% and UK shares fell 1.1%.

Economics

US personal income fell 1.1% in June, versus a revised 4.4% decline in May. Personal spending climbed 5.6% in June following a revised 8.5% increase in May.

The employment cost index increased 0.5% for the second quarter, versus analysts' expectations for a 0.6% rise.

The Chicago PMI increased by 15.3 points to a reading of 51.9 in July.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 72.5 in July, versus a preliminary estimate of 73.2.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.