Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps 100 Points; Calix Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.28% to 36,499.77 while the NASDAQ fell 0.10% to 15,766.70. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13% to 4,792.54.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 54,148,540 cases with around 842,160 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,808,880 cases and 480,590 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,254,700 COVID-19 cases with 618,720 deaths. In total, there were at least 283,309,330 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,433,640 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Darling Ingredients Inc. DAR, up 3% and Missfresh Limited MF up 4%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

The US goods trade deficit increased to an all-time high of $97.78 billion in November from a revised gap of $83.2 billion in the prior month, according to the advance estimate. Imports surged 4.7% to $252.43 billion, while exports fell 2.1% to $154.66 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Calix, Inc. CALX shares shot up 15% to $78.71 after it was announced the company will replace CIT Group in the S&P MidCap 400.

Shares of Puxin Limited NEW got a boost, shooting 80% to $0.54 after reporting results for the second quarter.

Scienjoy Holding Corporation SJ shares were also up, gaining 13% to $6.06 as the company agreed to acquire Hongle.tv for $43.8 million.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Medallion Financial Corp. MFIN shares tumbled 26% to $6.25 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company and its chief operating officer with fraud.

Shares of Applied UV, Inc. AUVI were down 24% to $2.7350 after the company announced pricing of an $8 million underwritten public offering.

FuelCell Energy, Inc. FCEL was down, falling 15% to $5.00 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $75.77, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,803.50.

Silver traded down 1.3% Wednesday to $22.815 while copper fell 0.5% to $4.4125.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.11%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.17% and the German DAX 40 dropped 0.70%. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 gained 0.66%, while French CAC 40 slipped 0.27% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.37%.

Economics

The US goods trade deficit increased to an all-time high of $97.78 billion in November from a revised gap of $83.2 billion in the prior month, according to the advance estimate. Imports surged 4.7% to $252.43 billion, while exports fell 2.1% to $154.66 billion.

Wholesale inventories rose 1.2% to $769.9 billion in November.

The pending home sales index dropped 2.2% for November.

US crude inventories dropped 3.576 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

Check out the full economic calendar here