Mid-afternoon market update: Dow rises around 150 points, Semler Scientific shares slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.42% to 36,063.98 while the NASDAQ rose 0.03% to 15,600.42. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.28% to 4,626.45.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 46,931,280 cases with around 767,430 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,285,810 cases and 458,470 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,814,690 COVID-19 cases with 607,950 deaths. In total, there were at least 247,964,840 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,023,030 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares gained by 1.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. KNSA +19.01% (Get Free Alerts for KNSA), up 15% and Icosavax, Inc. ICVX +20.29% (Get Free Alerts for ICVX) up 16%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE +4.11% reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and raised its FY21 guidance.

Pfizer posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $1.34 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.09 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $24.10 billion, versus expectations of $22.71 billion.

Pfizer said it now expects FY21 adjusted earnings of $4.13-$4.18 versus prior forecast of $3.95-$4.05. The company also raised sales forecast from $78 billion-$80 billion to $81 billion-$82 billion. Pfizer also raised its revenue expectation from the COVID-19 vaccine by $2.5 billion to approximately $36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

The OLB Group, Inc. OLB +83.01% shares shot up 109% to $9.60 after the company announced support for Mastercard cryptocurrency processing.

Shares of Avis Budget Group, Inc. CAR +108.94% got a boost, shooting 97% to $337.21 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and added $1 billion to its buyback.

Rogers Corporation ROG +29.93% shares were also up, gaining 30% to $270.28 after the company announced it will be acquired by DuPont for $277 per share in cash. Rogers also released Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Chegg, Inc. CHGG -48.65% shares tumbled 46% to $33.80 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results and issued Q4 and FY21 sales guidance below estimates. Various analysts also downgraded the stock.

Shares of Semler Scientific, Inc. SMLR -25.72% were down 27% to $109.19 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 results.

Triterras, Inc. TRIT -27.41% was down, falling 30% to $5.23 after B. Riley Securities downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and lowers its price target from $9 to $5. Also, the company reported it did not meet Nasdaq's Nov. 1 deadline to file its annual report on Form 20-F with the SEC.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $83.58, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,789.50.

Silver traded down 2.5% Tuesday to $23.475 while copper fell 0.8% to $4.36.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.14%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.84% and the German DAX 30 climbed 0.94%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.19%, French CAC 40 rose 0.49% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.06%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI fell to 58.3 in October from an initial reading of 58.5. The IHS Markit Spain manufacturing PMI declined to 57.4 in October, recording the lowest level since March, while German manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 57.8 in October from a preliminary level of 58.2. Italy’s manufacturing PMI climbed to 61.1 in October, notching the highest level since June, while French manufacturing PMI slipped to 53.6 in October.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will start its two-day policy meeting today.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index surged 16.9% year-over-year for the week ended October 30.