Mid-day market update: SharpSpring surges following acquisition news, MicroVision shares plummet

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 33,896.65 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12% to 14,158.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20% to 4,233.37.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,554,330 cases with around 602,090 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,977,860 cases and 389,300 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,966,830 COVID-19 cases with 502,580 deaths. In total, there were at least 178,811,880 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,873,980 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares rose by 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ferroglobe PLC GSM 5.46%, up 4%, and Huntsman Corporation HUN 4.08%, up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Korn Ferry KFY 5.36% reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Korn Ferry reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.98 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $557.40 million, versus expectations of $488.48 million.

Korn Ferry said it sees Q1 earnings of $1.04-$1.14 per share and fee revenue of $535 million to $555 million.

Equities Trading UP

Alfi, Inc. ALF 82.69% shares shot up 50% to $11.69 following exclusive Benzinga reporting the company will buyback up to $2 million of its stock. Company CEO told Benzinga ALFI's stock is "undervalued based on pipeline projections and identified opportunity."

Shares of County Bancorp, Inc. ICBK 46.22% got a boost, shooting 46% to $34.11. Nicolet Bankshares reported a deal to buy County Bancorp.

SharpSpring, Inc. SHSP 19.91% shares were also up, gaining 20% to $16.91 after the company agreed to be acquired by Constant Contact for $240 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

New Concept Energy, Inc. GBR 31.28% shares tumbled 30% to $6.60 after climbing over 73% on Monday.

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. MARA 1.33 were down 11% to $24.74 amid a drop in Bitcoin.

MicroVision, Inc. MVIS 13.29% was down, falling 15% to $16.71 after the company announced a $140 million at-the-market equity offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $73.85, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,778.10.

Silver traded down 0.6% Tuesday to $25.87 while copper rose 1.4% to $4.2440.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.14%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.11%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.28%, French CAC 40 rose 0.02% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.35%.

Public sector net borrowing in the UK declined to GBP 24.3 billion in May. Italy's industrial sales rose 3.3% in April following a revised 1.7% growth rise in March.