Nasdaq Drops Over 300 Points; Crude Oil Down 1.5%

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 300 points.

The Dow traded down 2.09% to 33,256.29 while the NASDAQ fell 2.94% to 10,842.67. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 2.36% to 3,900.88.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell by just 1.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd. GNE, up 3%, and Altus Power, Inc. AMPS, up 4%.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares tumbled by 3.4%.

Top Headline

 

The ECB increased interest rates by 50 bps during its latest meeting, announcing a fourth rate hike.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

• Kintara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTRA) shares shot up 22% to $9.73. Kintara Therapeutics received orphan drug designation for VAL-083 for THE treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
• Shares of IMV Inc. IMV got a boost, shooting 18% to $2.54 after the company announced initial data from the ongoing Phase 2B VITALIZE trial in patients with r/r DLBCL.
• Icosavax, Inc. ICVX shares were also up, gaining 42% to $12.88 on continued strength after the company provided a six-month immunogenicity update from its Phase 1/1b trial of IVX-121 against respiratory syncytial virus.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Third Harmonic Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRD) shares tumbled 78% to $4.4150 after the company announced discontinuation of its Phase 1b study of THB001 in chronic inducible urticaria.
• Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX were down 20% to $13.70 after the company announced a proposed $125 million public offering of common stock.
• Miromatrix Medical Inc. MIRO was down, falling 28% to $2.95. The FDA has placed a clinical hold on Miromatrix Medical’s miroliverELAP Investigational New Drug (IND) application for acute liver failure.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $76.16 while gold traded down 1.6% at $1,789.10.

Silver traded down 3.1% to $23.40 on Thursday while copper fell 2% to $3.8010.

 

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.47%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.64% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.45%. The German DAX dropped 2.9%, French CAC 40 fell 2.77% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.76%.

The ECB increased interest rates by 50 bps during its latest meeting, announcing a fourth rate hike. The Bank of England increased interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.5% during its December meeting.

Spain's trade deficit widened to EUR 6.85 billion in October from EUR 3.36 billion in the year-
ago month. The annual inflation rate in France came in at 6.2% in November. Wholesale prices in Germany accelerated 14.9% year-over-year in November.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with the Japan’s Nikkei dropping 0.37% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 1.55%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.25%.

The annual wholesale price inflation rate in India eased to 5.85% in November from 8.39% in the previous month. Industrial production in Japan dropped by 3.2% month-over-month in October following a final 1.7% decline a month ago. Japan's core machinery orders rose 5.4% month-over-month in October, while trade deficit surged to JPY 2,027.4 billion in November.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority increased the base rate by 50 basis points to 4.75%. China's unemployment rate climbed to a six-month high of 5.7% in November, while industrial production rose 2.2% year-over-year in November. China's retail trade dropped by 5.9% year-over-year in November.

 

Economics

 

• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased 6 points to a reading of -13.8 in December.
• US initial jobless claims dropped by 20,000 to 211,000 in the week ending December 10.
• The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell 16 points from a month ago to -11.2 in December.
• Retail sales fell 0.6% month-over-month in November.
• Industrial production in the US fell by 0.2% month-over-month in November versus a 0.1% drop in October.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 101,589,370 cases with around 1,111,660 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,676,530 cases and 530,660 deaths, while France reported over 38,682,980 COVID-19 cases with 160,120 deaths. In total, there were at least 655,803,840 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,665,180 deaths.