Benzinga | Aug 14, 2020 03:03PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: PaySign Drops After Q2 Results; Textainer Group Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.01% to 27892.91 while the NASDAQ fell 0.31% to 11008.14. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09% to 3,370.28.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 5,254,870 cases with around 167,250 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 3,224,870 COVID-19 cases with 105,460 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 2,461,190 confirmed cases and 48,040 deaths. In total, there were at least 20,945,980 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 760,020 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR), up 13%, and Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:ARLP), up 9%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

On Thursday, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and also issued an upbeat forecast for the current quarter.

Earnings per share came in at $1.06, which beat the estimate of $0.95. The company posted revenue of $4.40 billion, exceeding expectations of $4.18 billion.

Applied Materials said it expects Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.11 to $1.23, versus analysts' expectations of $1.02. The company projects sales of $4.60 billion versus estimates of $4.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Taiwan Liposome Company, Ltd. (NASDAQ:TLC) shares shot up 41% to $7.18 following earlier press release highlighting submission of investigational new drug application for TLC19 inhalable liposomal hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus infection.

Shares of Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ:MESO) got a boost, shooting 49% to $17.57 after the company said FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor that the available data support the efficacy of remestemcel-L in pediatric patients with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) shares were also up, gaining 20% to $12.31 after reporting better-than-expected Q2 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Flux Power Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLUX) shares tumbled 47% to $4.21 after the company reported pricing of $10.8 million public offering.

Shares of Hexindai Inc. (NASDAQ:HX) were down 55% to $1.11. Hexindai shares jumped around 294% on Thursday after the company announced it launched an upgraded version of its social e-commerce platform Xiaobai Maimai.

PaySign, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYS) was down, falling 23% to $8.01 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $42.07, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,952.70.

Silver traded down 4.9% Friday to $26.37, while copper rose 1.8% to $2.856.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.33%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.13%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.71%, French CAC 40 fell 1.58% and UK shares fell 1.55%.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 1.2% in July, versus a revised 8.4% surge in June.

Labor productivity increased by an annualized 7.3% in the second quarter, while unit labor costs rose an annualized 12.2%.

U.S. industrial production increased 3.0% in July, following a 5.7% rise in June.

U.S. business inventories declined 1.1% in June after declining 2.3% in May.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose slightly to 72.8 in August versus a reading of 72.5 in the prior month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 4 to 172 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.