As we await the Fed’s Wednesday decision to lower interest rates again for the third time this year, the S&P 500 hit an all-time new high prior to ending today’s session down by 2.53 points or -.08% as it closed at 3,036.89. Firms making up just over 50% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization had reported their Q3 earnings which have beaten Wall Street’s expectations by 3.6% while 71% of companies bested their own profit expectations.
Today the Dow also lost 19.30 points closing at 27,071.42 -.07%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at 8,276.85 +1.01% or +82.87 points. The Russell 2000, the small-cap stock market index representing the bottom 2,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index moved higher by 13.22 points +.85% and it ended trading at 1,571.93.
Treasury yields ended down today. The 2-yr Treasury yield closed at 1.64% & the 10-yr yield finished higher at 1.84%.
Oil moved .3% lower day closing at $55.76/bbl further retreating from its recent run. Chevron (CVX) closed at $118.13/share -.30%, Exxon (XOM) closed at $68.44/share -.29%. Occidental Petroleum (OXY) closed at $42.33/share +.12%.
Gold prices closed $1,490.50/oz. Silver closed at $17.87/oz. Hecla Mining Company (HL) closed at $2.14/share +1.42% after a recent report that confirmed a 30% increase in Q3 silver production of 3.3 million ounces and gold production of 77,331 ounces & cash and cash equivalents of ~$33M an $24M increase over June 30th, 2019 with outstanding debt coming in slightly lower. First Majestic Silver (AG) closed higher at $10.31/share flat on the day after a recent confirmation that they had record consolidated average silver recoveries of 88%, the highest in the Company’s 17-year history in Q3.
Volatility bets results swung sharply higher again today. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed at $13.20/share +.69% or +$.09/share. The 2x leveraged ETF TVIX closed at $9.44/share+.32% or +$.03/share and traded between $9.10 and $9.71 today.
Economic Reports
Monday supplied ups with the Adv. International Trade in Goods report for September which confirmed a deficit of $70.4 B. An advance report for retail inventories showed a 0.3% increase, versus a 0.2% decline in August, while the advance report for wholesale inventories showed a 0.3% decline, versus an unchanged reading for August. On Tuesday, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index report confirmed that it went down to 125.9 in October. Also, the Pending Home Sales report showed an increase of 1.5% in September.
The S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index Report for August went up by 2%.
Big Movers
Stoke Therapeutics (STOK), a biotechnology company pioneering a new way to treat the underlying cause of severe genetic diseases by precisely upregulating protein expression, rebounded +15.28% closing at $29.80/share today. No news was shared today but the company had recently sold off sharply from the $30 range down to $19.21/share. It could be a bit of short-covering but it is an interesting company nonetheless…
Healthcare
The S&P 500 healthcare sector closed at 1088.55 +1.16%. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $247.05/share +2.12% after a recent Q3 earnings beat on 10/15/19, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) closed at $56.27/share +.84%, Walgreens reported earnings on 10/28/2019 of $1.43/share, missing estimates calling for $1.451 per share & Cigna (CI) gained 1.83% closing at $177.98/share.
1 in 8 couples need fertility treatment Retrieved January 19, 2017, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infertility.htm
INVO Bioscience, Inc. (IVOB) is a medical device company focused on creating alternative treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility and developers of INVOcell®, the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System. IVOB announced this week the receipt of a CE Mark for its INVOcell culture and retention device. The receipt of the CE Mark is the final requirement for INVO Bioscience to begin commercially distributing the revolutionary alternative to traditional IVF through the entire European Union. “We are extremely pleased to receive this very important product certification, the CE Mark, which permits us to commercially distribute the world’s only in vivo fertilization treatment to the millions of patients throughout the countries of the EU. The European countries represent a large potential market for INVOcell, with an estimated $3 to $4 billion currently spent on IVF treatments. Importantly, INVOcell is a simple and more natural solution with the potential to expand the overall addressable market for treatment due to its ability to lower costs compared to IVF while also demonstrating comparable rates of effectiveness. We are currently in the middle of active discussions with several distribution partners around the world, including within the European market, and look forward to providing updates on our international efforts in the near future,” stated Steve Shum, CEO of INVO Bioscience. Read the complete story by clicking here.
To learn more about INVO Bioscience (IVOB) and to track its progress daily, please the INVO Bioscience Dedicated Company Page by clicking here.
IVOB closed trading at $.2863/share. The 52-wk range is $.25 – $.63.
Biotech
The Ishares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) moved higher +.43% at $107.46 & the NYSE Arca Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 4,467.75 -.13%.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) closed at $129.12/share -.04%, Merck & Co (MRK) closed at $85.10/share +3.53%, Pfizer (PFE) closed at $38.21/share +2.49%. Merck (MRK) reported earnings on 10/29/2019 of $1.51, beating estimates of $1.28 per share. Pfizer (PFE) reported earnings on 10/29/2019 of $.75, beating estimates of $.644 per share.
Atossa Genetics (ATOS) closed trading at $1.70/share on this 29th day of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Recently, Atossa and The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation announced that the Institutional Review Board (IRB) has approved a Phase 2 clinical study of Atossa’s intraductal microcatheter technology for the administration of fulvestrant in patients with early-stage breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Susan Love, M.D., inventor of the technology, will advise Atossa as it conducts the trial. Atossa also entered into a clinical trial agreement with a major research university named in the 8k filing that Atossa filed on 10-14-2019 to conduct their Phase 2 clinical study of Atossa’s intraductal microcatheter technology for the administration of fulvestrant in patients with early-stage breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Atossa Genetics is the owner of issued patents, pending patent applications, and medical device FDA 510(k) premarket notifications related to the treatment of breast conditions, including breast cancer and DCIS.
“We have contracted with a world-class teaching, research, and healthcare organization based in the United States to conduct this study,” commented Steven C. Quay, Ph.D., M.D., CEO and President of Atossa. “Atossa’s intraductal technology was invented by Dr. Love and subsequently acquired by Atossa. We are honored that Dr. Love has agreed to work with us on this important new study. This work begins as Atossa increases its corporate focus on its proprietary Endoxifen for the reduction of mammographic breast density.” READ the complete story here.
Today Kyle Guse, CFO and General Counsel of Atossa Genetics was a featured presenter at the 5th Annual Dawson James Small Cap Growth Conference at 11:20 AM Eastern Time. The conference was held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Jupiter, Florida.
Tech & Entertainment
Apple (AAPL) closed at $243.29/share -2.31% as optimism continues to grow with regard to the new iPhone models and new streaming entertainment offering, Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $1262.62/share -2.12%, Facebook (FB) closed at $189.31/share -.05% as news of its antitrust probe now includes 47 attorney generals surfaced recently, Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $142.83/share -.94%, NVIDIA (NVDA) closed at $202.92/share -1.87%. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch recently raised its NVDA price target to $250 from $225. IBM closed at $133.82/share -1.58% as it recently missed wall street Q3 expectations while Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained +.15% finishing at $47.24/share. Goldman Sachs (GS) recently downgraded CSCO as it views that corporate spending on technology has weakened. Disney (DIS) closed at $129.48/share -.80% as it recently announced that it was teaming with Verizon (VZ) ($60.19 +.02%) and its new streaming service Disney+ will now be given to all new customers of Verizon for a year, and Netflix (NFLX) closed at $281.21/share -.23%. Amazon (AMZN) closed at $1,762.71/share -.81%. Streaming device maker Roku (ROKU) closed at $147.24/share +.25% today. RBC recently issued an upgrade based upon ROKU’s valuation as it had recently declined over the last 30-days and also boosted its target price to $155 up from $107. Intel (INTC) closed at $56.34 -.74% after beating Q3 expectations recently. Boeing (BA) closed at $348.93 +2.4% after their CEO’s testimony to the Senate.
Tomorrow
Apple (AAPL) reports earnings on 10/30/2019 after the market close.
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