Dow Drops Over 100 Points; Verona Pharma Shares Jump
U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 100 points on Tuesday.
The Dow traded down 0.34% to 32,720.07 while the NASDAQ fell 1.38% to 12,470.08. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.62% to 4,114.40.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 1.5% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CRK), up 8% and Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR) up 8%.
In trading on Tuesday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 1.7%.
Top Headline
U.S. non-farm labor productivity declined an annualized 4.6% in the second quarter compared to market estimates of a 4.7% decline. Unit labor costs in the US nonfarm business sector, meanwhile, jumped by 10.8% in the second quarter, following a revised 12.7% increase in the prior period and versus analysts’ estimates of a 9.5% increase.
Equities Trading UP
Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) shares shot up 37% to $9.51 after the company announced ensifentrine met its primary endpoint and secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 ENHANCE-2 trial for COPD. The company also reported Q2 earnings results.
Shares of BBQ Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBQ) got a boost, shooting 46% to $17.12 after the company announced MTY Food Group entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company for $17.25 per share.
Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) shares were also up, gaining 26% to $4.57 after reporting a profit for the second quarter.
Equities Trading DOWN
Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX) shares tumbled 56% to $7.22 after the company announced Q2 results and provided an update on clinical development programs.
Shares of CorMedix Inc. (NASDAQ:CRMD) were down 57% to $3.20 after the company announced it received a second Complete Response Letter from the FDA stating that the DefenCath NDA cannot be approved until certain deficiencies are resolved to the satisfaction of the FDA.
Aytu BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:AYTU) was down, falling 51% to $0.2842 after the company reported pricing of public offering of 12.505 million shares.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $90.71, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,810.20.
Silver traded down 0.8% to $20.445 on Tuesday while copper fell 0.2% to $3.5790.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.67%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.08% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.48%. The German DAX fell 1.12%, French CAC 40 fell 0.53% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.05%.
Retail sales in the UK climbed by 1.6% on a like-for-like basis for July from a year earlier, growing for the first time in five months.
Economics
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 89.9 in July from 89.5 in June.
U.S. non-farm labor productivity declined an annualized 4.6% in the second quarter compared to market estimates of a 4.7% decline. Unit labor costs in the US nonfarm business sector, meanwhile, jumped by 10.8% in the second quarter, following a revised 12.7% increase in the prior period and versus analysts’ estimates of a 9.5% increase.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 94,024,920 cases with around 1,059,210 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,174,650 cases and 526,770 deaths, while France reported over 34,079,650 COVID-19 cases with 152,710 deaths. In total, there were at least 590,430,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,439,010 deaths.