Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up Over 600 Points; Immunomedics Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 2.77 percent to 22,394.95 while the NASDAQ climbed 3.73 percent to 6,424.02. The S&P also rose, gaining 2.75 percent to 2,415.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Vitamin Shoppe Inc VSI up 11 percent, and Points International Ltd. PCOM up 9 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.1 percent.

Top Headline

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 0.4 percent for October.

The index in the US rose 5.0 percent year-over-year in October, versus a revised 5.2 percent increase in September. Economists were expecting a 0.2 percent monthly increase and 4.8 percent yearly rise in prices.

Equities Trading UP

Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU shares got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $16.20 after the company and Johnson Matthey announced the companies have expanded their long-term master supply agreement under which Johnson Matthey will continue to scale the manufacturing of Immunomedics' CL2A-SN-38.

Shares of Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADIL shot up 34 percent to $6.64 after rising 15.12 percent on Monday.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $2.0555 after a director bought 2,100,000 shares at an average price of $1.965..

Equities Trading DOWN

XBiotech Inc. XBIT shares dropped 17 percent to $4.96.

Shares of Ever-Glory International Group, Inc. EVK were down 15 percent to $3.40.

Forterra, Inc. FRTA was down, falling around 14 percent to $3.35.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 7.38 percent to $45.67 while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,274.00.

Silver traded up 2.26 percent Wednesday to $15.155, while copper rose 1.65 percent to $2.705.

Eurozone

European markets will remain close on Wednesday for the Boxing Day holiday.

Economics

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.4 percent for October.

The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index dropped to a reading of -8.00 for December, versus prior reading of 14.00. However, economists expected a reading of 16.00.