Stock market news live updates: Stocks tick higher as investors monitor Covid-19 case growth – Yahoo Finance

Stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday morning as investors weighed the economic impacts of the ongoing rise in coronavirus cases globally, and considered a report that raised further concerns over US-China tensions.

According to a report from Bloomberg, advisers to President Donald Trump have suggested that the US target the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US dollar in a retaliatory move against China for its recently imposed national security law on Hong Kong.

Global equities traded choppily Wednesday morning in New York. Earlier, the three major US indices ended Tuesday’s regular session lower, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each snapped a five-session winning streak. Still, the S&P 500 remained higher by 1.5% for July through Tuesday’s close.

Shares of airlines, cruise lines and lodging firms fell again, as a protracted rise in coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations domestically threatened the recovery of companies of these industries. United Airlines (UAL) warned in a securities filing Tuesday that it expects “demand to remain suppressed until a widely accepted treatment and/or vaccine for Covid-19 is available.” Year over year industry revenue was down 78% as of July 2, the company added.

On the vaccine and treatment front, Moderna (MRNA) shares rose to their highest level in a week on Wednesday after announcing it had completed enrollment of its Phase 2 study of its mRNA vaccine candidate against Covid-19. It added it had finalized its Phase 3 study protocol with the US Food and Drug Administration, for a randomized, placebo-controlled trial expected to include about 30,000 participants.

Shares of Novavax (NVAX) gave back some gains Wednesday after closing higher by 31% on Tuesday, following an announcement that it had received $1.6 billion from US Operation Warp Speed to expedite the development of a vaccine for Covid-19. Novavax – which is working on one of more than 130 Covid-19 vaccine candidates worldwide – is set to deliver 100 million doses of the vaccine as soon as late 2020, assuming clinical trials are successful. Regeneron (REGN), which announced Tuesday it received a smaller grant to develop a Covid-19 treatment, traded slightly higher.

The steady march higher in virus cases continued unabated in some parts of the US. Texas posted its largest one-day rise in cases ever at more than 10,000, bringing the state-wide total to 210,585. Deaths in Arizona rose by a record 117 to more than 1,900. California’s virus hospitalizations rose by 3.4% to a record 5,989, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed pushed back the city’s planned return of indoor dining past the original date of July 13.

Levi Strauss (LEVI) was one of the few companies to report earnings results this week after market close Tuesday. Shares fell in late trading after the company reported a 62% drop in second-quarter net revenue over last year, or a greater decline than expected, and said it would be cutting 700 jobs.

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9:37 a.m. ET: Brooks Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as company joins wave of bankrupt retailers during pandemic

Brooks Brothers, the more than 200-year-old menswear retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware Wednesday morning, joining peer retailers Neiman Marcus and J. Crew in filing for bankruptcy during the pandemic.

With Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company will be able to continue operating while working out a plan to restructure the business.

An earlier report from Bloomberg also suggested Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of brands including Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant, was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this week. As part of the plan, the company would shut at least 1,200 of its about 3,000 retail locations and enter a creditor agreement to eliminate about $700 million if its $1.1 billion debt load. Ascena previously disclosed in May that its fiscal third quarter sales had dropped 45% over last year due to virus-related store closures.

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9:32 a.m. ET: Stocks open slightly higher, Nasdaq outperforms

Stocks opened slightly to the upside Wednesday morning, with each of the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq holding onto modest overnight gains.

The information technology, health care and consumer discretionary sectors led advances in the S&P 500. More than 1% advances in each of Walmart and Apple kept the Dow in the green. The Nasdaq outperformed against the S&P 500 as heavily weighted tech stocks mostly rose. The index climbed 0.7%, or 74 points, versus about 0.4% advances in each of the S&P 500 and Dow.

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7:26 a.m. ET Wednesday: Stocks rise after choppy overnight session

Here were the main moves in markets, as of 7:26 a.m. ET:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,141.00, up 4.5 points or 0.14%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 25,788.00, up 18 points, or 0.07%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,566.5, up 34.25 points, or 0.33%

• Crude (CL=F): -$0.08 (-0.2%) to $40.54 a barrel

• Gold (GC=F): +$4.50 (+0.25%) to $1,814.40 per ounce

• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.3 bps to yield 0.651%

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6:08 p.m. ET Tuesday: Stock futures flat to slightly higher as overnight trading kicks off

Here were the main moves at the start of the overnight session for U.S. equity futures, as of 6:08 p.m. ET:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,138.75, up 2.25 points or 0.07%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 25,807.00, up 37 points, or 0.14%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,542.00, up 9.75 points, or 0.09%

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