U.S. equity futures were weaker overnight and in early morning trading as ongoing worries over the resurgence of the virus and the consequent possible stalling of the recovery weighed on sentiment and after Asia's major stock markets posted losses. However, markets in the U.S. have edged up from overnight lows following positive news on Gilead's drug, remdesivir, and its ability to cut down on the risk of death from COVID-19. The averages are at session highs at midday, with the recently outperforming Nasdaq playing the role this morning of the laggard while the S&P and Dow see more outsized gains.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, the producer prices index final demand figure fell 0.2% in June, and the core PPI dropped 0.3%, each of which were lower than expected.
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 12.3M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 3.12M in the U.S., and 555,531 deaths due to the disease. On the state level among U.S. hot spots, Florida reported 244,151 COVID-19 cases, up from 232,718 yesterday.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) are 2% higher near noon after the company announced additional data on remdesivir, its investigational antiviral for the treatment of COVID-19. In a comparative analysis of the Phase 3 SIMPLE-Severe trial and a real-world retrospective cohort of patients with severe COVID-19, remdesivir was associated with an improvement in clinical recovery and a 62% reduction in the risk of mortality compared with standard of care, Gilead reported.
Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry raised the firm's price target on Netflix (NFLX) to a "Street high" $670 from $540 and reiterates a Conviction Buy rating on the shares, telling investors that he expects Netflix to report Q2 results "well above guidance" next week.
Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN) received its own "Street high" target from Citi analyst Jason Bazinet, who raised the firm's price target on the e-commerce giant's shares to $3,550 from $2,700. Bazinet estimates Amazon's share of the U.S. e-commerce market increased from 28% in 2015 to 38% in 2019, and he expects it to reach 43% by 2022.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Greenbrier (GBX), which gained 15% after reporting quarterly results. Also higher was Carrier Global (CARR), which rose 4% after the company announced the launch of its OptiClean 1500-cfm air scrubber that it said is "ideal for helping to maintain clean and healthy indoor air quality in classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, gymnasiums, restrooms and more."
Among the notable losers was Beyond Meat (BYND), which slipped 5% after Citi analyst Wendy Nicholson initiated coverage of the stock with a Sell rating and $123 price target. Also lower was Fastly (FSLY), which fell 4% after Craig-Hallum analyst Jeff Van Rhee downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and BofA analyst Tal Liani double-downgraded shares to Underperform from Buy.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 237.81, or 0.93%, to 25,943.90, the Nasdaq was up 4.45, or 0.04%, to 10,552.20, and the S&P 500 was up 15.11, or 0.48%, to 3,167.16.
Gilead
+1.87 (+2.50%)
Netflix
+24.23 (+4.77%)
Amazon.com
+3.98 (+0.12%)
Carrier Global
+0.97 (+4.06%)
Greenbrier
+3.465 (+15.93%)
Beyond Meat
-6.57 (-4.66%)
Fastly
-3.38 (-3.29%)