The Dow is on track for its worst day since September
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is down more than 700 points at midday, extending this morning's steep losses, and on track for its worst day since September. The drop came after the country reached a record of 83,000 new coronavirus infections over the weekend, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the U.S. was "not going to control the pandemic," but focus on vaccines and other mitigations instead.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are significantly lower as well, with the travel sector and stocks that benefit from the economy reopening leading the losses. Elsewhere, hopes that a stimulus deal may come before an election that is only nine days away are quickly fading, after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Meadows separately accused one another of slowing down progress during stimulus talks.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Home construction stock drops despite upgrade.
- Is Pinterest stock overvalued ahead of earnings?
- Plus, unpacking this social network's C-suite shakeup; Silvergate Capital stock surges after earnings; and energy stock plummets despite acquisition.
One stock seeing notable options activity today is Momo Inc (NASDAQ:MOMO), up 2.4% at $15.57, after the Chinese social networking name said Chief Executive Officer Yan Tang would step down Nov. 1, to be replaced by President and Chief Operating Officer Li Wang. As a result, 23,000 calls have crossed the tape so far today, which is 29 times the average intraday amount. Most popular is the monthly November 16.50 call, followed by the weekly 10/30 16-strike call, with new positions being opened at both. Year-over-year, however, MOMO is down 52.8%.
Surging on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is Silvergate Capital Corp (NYSE:SI), up 6.3% at $22, after earlier hitting an all-time-high of $23. Today's jump came after the bank holding company reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates. The equity started climbing up the charts earlier in October to more than triple its March all-time-low of $7.60, after spending several months trading mostly sideways. Longer term, Silvergate Capital stock sports a 52.7% quarter-to-date lead.
Meanwhile, dropping lower is Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE), last seen down 12.2% at $3.26. The drop came after the oil and natural gas company agreed to buy rival Husky Energy in an all-stock deal valued at $2.9 billion. The deal is drawing a mixed response from covering analysts -- Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "outperform" and cut its target price to $7 from $8, while Raymond James and the National Bank of Canada doled out price-target hikes. On the charts, the stock is far from its pre-pandemic, January high of $10.52, and has spent the last several months failing to break above the overhead 20-day moving average. Year-to-date, CVE is down 67.6%.
