The major averages are mixed at midday, which is an improvement from the early morning levels. Fresh outbreaks of coronavirus infections across the globe - including Beijing, parts of Europe, and in a number of states in the U.S. - continue to keep investors on edge, while Chinese data disappointed and suggested a more tepid bounce back than hoped.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, the Empire State manufacturing index jumped 48.3 points to -0.2 in June, which was much better than expected.
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 7.95M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including about 2.1M in the U.S., and 434,388 deaths due to the disease.
TOP NEWS: After CNBC reported that AT&T (T) is considering selling Warner Brothers Interactive for about $4B and that Activision (ATVI), Electronic Arts (EA) and Take-Two (TTWO) have all expressed interest, Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat reported that two sources confirmed to him that CNBC's report is correct in terms of the division being up for sale. However, while CNBC said the price could be about $4B, one of the sources said the price offered was $2B, according to Takahashi.
Over the weekend, AstraZeneca (AZN) announced it has reached an agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance, or IVA, spearheaded by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, to supply up to 400M doses of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine, with deliveries starting by the end of 2020. On Monday morning, Catalent (CTLT) announced that Catalent Biologics will provide vial filling and packaging capacity to AstraZeneca at Catalent's manufacturing facility in Anagni, Italy, and prepare for large-scale commercial supply of the University of Oxford's adenovirus vector based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Shares of Shopify (SHOP) are on the rise after Walmart (WMT) announced a partnership with the company and said it was opening Walmart Marketplace to Shopify sellers. Meanwhile, Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin upgraded Shopify to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $843, up from $773.
GE (GE) announced that David Joyce, vice chair of GE and president and CEO of GE Aviation, will retire from the company after 40 years of service. John Slattery, Embraer's (ERJ) president and CEO of Commercial Aviation, has been named president and CEO-elect of GE Aviation, the company added.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Momenta (MNTA), which rose 14% after its Phase 2 Vivacity-MG study of nipocalimab met its primary endpoint. Also higher was Genius Brands (GNUS), which gained 10% after announcing an investment from Arnold Schwartzenegger.
Among the notable losers was FuelCell (FCEL), which slid 7% after Craig-Hallum analyst Eric Stine downgraded the stock to Sell from Hold. Also lower was JinkoSolar (JKS), which fell 10% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 107.46, or 0.42%, to 25,498.08, the Nasdaq was up 20.62, or 0.22%, to 9,609.43, and the S&P 500 was down 7.91, or 0.26%, to 3,033.40.
AT&T
-0.205 (-0.67%)
Electronic Arts
+4.17 (+3.42%)
acquired by MSFT
+1.1 (+1.53%)
Take-Two
+2.54 (+1.90%)
Shopify
+38.5 (+5.17%)
Walmart
+0.31 (+0.26%)
AstraZeneca
+1.28 (+2.49%)
Catalent
+1.45 (+2.08%)
GE Aerospace
-0.07 (-0.97%)
Bought by JNJ
+4.51 (+14.52%)
Genius Brands
+0.41 (+9.86%)
FuelCell
-0.185 (-6.80%)
JinkoSolar
-1.68 (-9.42%)