US stocks are bouncing back on Wednesday snapping a three-day sell-off mainly led by technology shares. Notably, Tesla is up almost 6% after suffering the worst-ever one-day decline on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index is up 2.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is adding 2.4% led by top winners Apple and Microsoft. The S&P 500 Index is appreciating 2.6%.
Top gainer: Qorvo is leading gains on the S&P 500 with shares rising almost 9% after updating its financial guidance for the fiscal 2021 second quarter, citing better-than-expected mobile demand for its advanced 4G and 5G mobile products.
Mastercard said it sees continued modest improvements in its business in August sending shares up 3.5%. Switched transactions increased +5% y/y vs. +3% y/y. That’s thanks to the relaxing of social distancing measures, partially offset by the expiration of US elevated unemployment benefits. The data prompted RBC Capital’s Daniel Perlin to reiterate his Buy rating on the stock with a $372 price target. “Mastercard remains one of our best ideas in the space given our belief that investors should look to focus on long-term, secular-driven stories that provide solid organic growth with opportunities for margin expansion” he said.
No deal: Tiffany is diving almost 7% after Louis Vuitton owner LVMH called off a $16.2 billion deal to snap up the US jewelry chain. LVMH said the French government requested the luxury group to delay the acquisition until Jan. 6 next year because of the threat of additional US tariffs against French products. The deal was expected to be completed by Nov. 24 this year. This is not the end of the saga. Tiffany has now filed a lawsuit in the US to enforce the agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
United Airlines stock is losing more than 3% as the air carrier said that it continues to see a significant impact in demand for air travel and does not currently expect the recovery from Covid-19 to follow a linear path. Average daily cash burn during the third quarter of 2020 is expected to be approximately $25 million per day, the company said.
Corona: Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories shares are up 4% after the company announced the launch of Gilead Sciences coronavirus drug candidate remdesivir under the brand name Redyx in India. The launch is part of the licensing agreement with Gilead to manufacture and sell the potential treatment for Covid-19, in 127 countries including India. Dr. Reddy’s will make Redyx available in strength of 100 mg vial, the company said.
Pfizer and BioNTech SE are gaining on a deal with the European Commission for a proposed supply of 200 million doses of their investigational BNT162 mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate to EU Member States. The agreement includes an option for an additional 100 million doses, and if all goes well, deliveries could start before year-end.
AstraZeneca got hit by some bad news after the biopharma put its late-stage Covid-19 vaccine trial on hold, due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the UK, pushing shares down over 1%. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that global trials of the experimental vaccine may resume next week.
