The major averages are higher at midday and poised for another set of gains on a weekly basis as the market continues to digest the various developments on the virus, vaccines, stimulus, and earnings. Earnings have come in much better than expected, supporting the near-record levels on Wall Street.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment report for February revealed a surprising drop to a six-month low of 76.2, down 2.8 points from 79.0 in January and from 80.7 in December.
Data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 108M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 27.4M in the U.S., and 2.4M deaths due to the disease, including 475,000 in the U.S.
TOP NEWS: Disney (DIS) shares were fractionally lower near noon despite the media giant reporting a suprise profit for the first quarter to go along with better than expected revenue in the period. The company said that its Disney+ direct-to-consumer service had 94.9M paid subscribers as of January 2 and also reported year-over-year growth in paid subscribers for ESPN+ and Hulu. Following the report, a number of analysts raised their price target on the stock, with JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani saying that Disney's commentary on churn remains encouraging.
In other earnings news, Expedia (EXPE) shares fell 2% after the company reported worse than expected losses and lower than expected revenue, with room night growth falling 61% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead, Expedia expects first quarter adjusted EBITDA to be down significantly year-over-year.
On the M&A front, II-VI Incorporated (IIVI) made an offer to acquire Coherent (COHR) in a cash and stock transaction for $260 per share. II-VI's proposal represents a premium of 24% to the implied value of Coherent's merger agreement with Lumentum (LITE), based on Lumentum's closing share price yesterday, and a 9.8% premium to the implied value of MKS Instruments' (MKSI) acquisition proposal based on MKS' closing share price yesterday, the company noted.
Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday evening that President Joe Biden had secured deals for an additional 200M doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the country's total number of doses to 600M. Biden said while on tour at the National Institutes of Health that the White House signed the final contracts for 100M more Moderna (MRNA) and 100M more Pfizer (PFE) vaccines, adding that the U.S. will have enough supply for 300M Americans by the end of July.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Xeris Pharmaceuticals (XERS), which rose 6% after receiving European Commission approval for its Ogluo injection for the treatment of severe hypoglycaemia. Also higher were ImmunoGen (IMGN) and HubSpot (HUBS), which gained a respective 33% and 16% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Amicus (FOLD), which dropped 32% after phase 3 trial results determined that its AT-GAA investigational therapy for treatment of late-onset Pompe disease was not statistically superior. Also lower were Limelight Networks (LLNW) and Newell Brands (NWL), which fell 22% and 7%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 1.97, or 0.01%, to 31,432.67, the Nasdaq was up 29.33, or 0.21%, to 14,055.10, and the S&P 500 was up 8.22, or 0.21%, to 3,924.60.
