Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Carnival Reports Downbeat Q4 Revenue

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 1.58% to 34,806.55 while the NASDAQ fell 1.40% to 14,956.74. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.40% to 4,555.91.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 51,765,710 cases with around 827,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,746,830 cases and 477,550 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,213,760 COVID-19 cases with 617,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 275,075,790 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,372,280 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares fell by just 0.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dingdong (Cayman) Limited DDL, up 6% and Local Bounti Corporation LOCL up 4%.

In trading on Monday, materials shares tumbled 2.4%.

Top Headline

Carnival Corp CCL reported weaker-than-expected revenue for its fourth quarter.

The cruise operator's quarterly revenue rose to $1.29 billion from $34 million in the year-ago period. However, analysts were expecting revenue of $1.41 billion. Carnival posted quarterly adjusted net loss of $2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Society Pass Incorporated SOPA shares shot up 126% to $7.48 after the company was added to the Russell 2000.

Shares of Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. BRG got a boost, shooting 71% to $26.43. Blackstone agreed to buy Bluerock Residential Growth REIT in a deal valued at $3.6 billion, extending its push into U.S. rental housing.

Verso Corporation VRS shares were also up, gaining 34% to $26.94 after the company announced it would be acquired by BillerundKorsnas for $27 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Summit Therapeutics Inc. SMMT shares tumbled 46% to $2.6755 after reporting topline results for Phase III Ri-CoDIFy study for C. Difficile infection. The company said Ri-CoDIFy did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Spruce Biosciences, Inc. SPRB were down 24% to $3.8292. Spruce Biosciences shares jumped more than 102% on Friday after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a $15 price target.

Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. BLPH was down, falling 21% to $2.5108. Bellerophon Therapeutics jumped around 35% on Friday after topline data from Phase 2 study (PULSE-PHPF-002) evaluating the acute hemodynamic benefit of INOpulse via right heart catheterization for pulmonary hypertension associated with sarcoidosis (PH-Sarc)..

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.2% to $67.16, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,795.50.

Silver traded down 1.4% Monday to $22.22 while copper fell 0.2% to $4.2845.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.2% and the German DAX 30 dipped 1.9%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.1%, French CAC 40 fell 1.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB dipped 2%.

The Eurozone current account surplus shrank to EUR 20.5 billion in October from EUR 31 billion in the year-ago period. The goods surplus, meanwhile, narrowed to EUR 17.8 billion from EUR 39 billion.

Economics

The index of leading economic indicators rose 1.1% for November, versus analysts’ expectations for a 0.8% growth.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here