Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Rises 1%; NewLink Genetics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.07% to 28,531.49 while the NASDAQ rose 0.04% to 8,949.20. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 3,223.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.3% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included IRSA Propiedades Comerciales S.A. IRCP, up 10%, and IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anonima IRS, up 5%.

In trading on Tuesday, industrial shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

WESCO International, Inc. WCC confirmed an offer to purchase Anixter International Inc. AXE at $90/share.

The Tuesday-morning release followed a Monday evening amended, restated offer from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice at $86/share plus a $2.50/share contingent value right.

Equities Trading UP

Microbot Medical Inc. MBOT shares shot up 67% to $16.91 after surging 77.37% on Monday.

Shares of CLPS Incorporation CLPS got a boost, shooting up 68% to $7.35.

NewLink Genetics Corporation NLNK shares were also up, gaining 24% to $2.4110 after the company said it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Ellipses Pharma for developing and commercializing NLG207, a nanoparticle formulation of the topoisomerase 1 inhibitor camptothecin. NLG207 showed encouraging Phase 2 results in refractory ovarian cancer, the company added.

Equities Trading DOWN

Liminal BioSciences Inc. LMNL shares tumbled 11% to $9.81.

Shares of CEL-SCI Corporation CVM were down 6% to $9.01. CEL-SCI priced its 606,000 share common stock offering at $9.07 per share.

Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp MITO was down, falling 9% to $4.07.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $60.97, while gold traded up 1% to $1,503.10.

Silver traded up 1.7% Tuesday to $17.79, while copper rose 0.6% to $2.824.

Euro zone


European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.14%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.02%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.44%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.13%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.01% while UK shares rose 0.11%.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index fell 3.4% during the first three weeks of December versus November.