Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Down 300 Points; Annexon Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 36,711.36 while the NASDAQ fell 1.93% to 15,321.38. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.80% to 4,755.18.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 58,040,720 cases with around 851,430 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 35,018,350 cases and 482,550 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,323,830 COVID-19 cases with 619,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 295,735,790 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,476,550 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed 1.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included GoldMining Inc. GLDG, up 15% and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 1.9%.

Top Headline

RPM International Inc. RPM reported mixed results for its second quarter on Wednesday.

RPM International reported quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.83 per share. The company’s sales came in at $1.64 billion, versus estimates of $1.55 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Mainz Biomed B.V. MYNZ shares shot up 40% to $14.45 after the company announced it acquired exclusive rights to novel mRNA biomarkers.

Shares of Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. EWTX got a boost, shooting 25% to $19.40 after the company announced topline results from the EDG-5506 Phase 1b clinical trial in adults with Becker muscular dystrophy.

BTCS Inc. BTCS shares were also up, gaining 45% to $4.3988 after the company announced a Bitcoin dividend of $0.05 per share in Bitcoin.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Annexon, Inc. ANNX shares tumbled 34% to $7.30 after the company announced interim data from its ongoing, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial of ANX005 in patients with Huntington's disease who completed the 24-week treatment period.

Shares of AppTech Payments Corp. APCX were down 80% to $2.77 after the company reported pricing of $15.0 million underwritten public offering and Nasdaq listing.

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. SGH was down, falling 16% to $60.86. SMART Global Holdings reported upbeat results for its first quarter on Tuesday. The company said it sees Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.30 to $1.60 per share on sales of $415 million to $455 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $78.16, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,823.70.

Silver traded up 0.3% Wednesday to $23.12 while copper fell 1.4% to $4.4145.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.07%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.16%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.06%. The German DAX gained 0.74%, French CAC 40 surged 0.81% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.74%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone composite PMI slipped to 53.3 in December from a preliminary reading of 53.4, while services PMI declined to 53.1 in December from a preliminary level of 53.3.

The annual inflation rate in Italy rose to 3.9% in December from 3.7% in the prior month, while services PMI slipped to 53.0 in December from 55.9 in the prior month. The IHS Markit services PMI for France fell to 57 in December from a preliminary level of 57.1, while German services PMI was revised higher to 48.7 in December.

Economics

Private businesses in the US hired 807,000 workers in December, the most in seven months, the ADP said.

The IHS Markit composite PMI came in slightly higher at 57.0 in December from a preliminary reading of 56.9. US services PMI also rose to 57.6 in December from a preliminary estimate of 57.5.

US crude-oil inventories dropped 2.1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.

Check out the full economic calendar here