Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; FDA Authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.82% to 30,294.01 while the NASDAQ rose 1.14% to 12,519.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.84% to 3,694.41.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 16,257,360 cases with around 299,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,884,100 confirmed cases and 143,350 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,901,950 COVID-19 cases with 181,400 deaths. In total, there were at least 72,336,160 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,613,740 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 1.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Liquidity Services, Inc. LQDT, up 9%, and Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX, up 7%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares slipped 0.6%.

Top Headline

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the emergency use of BNT162b2, the mRNA vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer Inc. PFE and its German partner BioNTech SE – ADR BNTX, for use in individuals aged 16 years and older, the companies said in a statement late Friday.

The U.S. has become the fifth nation behind the U.K., Bahrain, Canada and Saudi Arabia to approve a coronavirus vaccine candidate for emergency use.

Equities Trading UP

Arvinas, Inc. ARVN shares shot up 98% to $59.27 after the company reported interim clinical data for its cancer treatment. The company said ARV-471 showed evidence of anti-tumor activity.

Shares of AnPac Bio-Medical Science Co., Ltd. ANPC got a boost, shooting 76% to $7.45 after the company said it made significant progress in detecting pre-cancer diseases.

Veru Inc. VERU shares were also up, gaining 63% to $10.36. Veru reported Phase 2 trial results for enobosarm for endocrine resistant metastatic breast cancer.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARPO shares tumbled 47% to $1.1837 after the company disclosed results from its phase 2 trial of Razuprotafib glaucoma. HC Wainwright & Co. maintained Aerpio Pharmaceuticals with a Neutral and lowered the price target from $2 to $1.5.

Shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. SLS were down 21% to $6.61. SELLAS Life Sciences Group shares tumbled around 53% on Friday after the company reported follow-up data from a randomized Phase 2 VADIS trial of Nelipepimut-S in woman with ductal carcinoma in-situ of the breast.

Greenwich LifeSciences, Inc. GLSI was down, falling 21% to $44.24 after declining over 22% on Friday. Greenwich LifeSciences last week shared the poster for the GP2 Phase 2b clinical trial final efficacy analysis that was presented Wednesday at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $47.14, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,830.70.

Silver traded down 0.4% Monday to $23.985 while copper rose 0.3% to $3.54.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1.9%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 1.3%, French CAC 40 rose 1.2% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%.

Eurozone industrial production increased 2.1% in October. German wholesale prices declined 1.7% year-over-year in November but rose 0.1% month-over-month.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.