Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 2%; Kubient Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.62% to 30,201.90 while the NASDAQ fell 0.03% to 12,803.99. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35% to 3,700.15.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 18,237,190 cases with around 322,840 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,099,060 confirmed cases and 146,440 deaths, while Brazil reported over 7,318,820 COVID-19 cases with 188,250 deaths. In total, there were at least 78,114,310 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,719,430 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Energy Fuels Inc. UUUU, up 15%, and Kosmos Energy Ltd. KOS, up 15%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Paychex posted quarterly earnings of $0.73 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.66 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $983.70 million, versus expectations of $954.00 million.

Paychex said it now expects 2021 adjusted EPS to decline 1% to 4%, versus previous forecast for a 6% to 8% drop.

 

Equities Trading UP

Ocugen, Inc. OCGN shares shot up 249% to $2.80 after the company announced it will convene its Meeting of Stockholders on Dec. 23 to modify a proposal, decreasing the proposed aggregate number of shares of common stock that the Company would be authorized to issue. Ocugen shares jumped around 174% on Tuesday after the company and Bharat Biotech announced plans to co-develop a whole-virion inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Shares of Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. FRSX got a boost, shooting 54% to $4.9792. The strength appears to be in reaction to reports of Apple working on a self-driving EV. Foresight's technology can be used in autonomous vehicles.

Jaguar Health, Inc. JAGX shares were also up, gaining 140% to $0.9538 after the company signed an agreement with a secured lender involving the $6 million sale of royalty interest in Mytesi royalties.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. CLRB shares tumbled 31% to $1.91 after the company priced a $24.5 million offering at $1.35 per share.

Shares of CRH Medical Corporation CRHM were down 23% to $2.1170 after the company issued a customer update. The company said its largest customer, United Digestive, does not intend to renew its professional services agreements.

Kubient, Inc. KBNT was down, falling 16% to $5.57 as the company priced its underwritten public offering of 3,529,411 shares at $5.10 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $47.97, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,878.40.

Silver traded up 0.9% Wednesday to $25.76 while copper rose 0.8% to $3.5475.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today following the reports that a Brexit trade deal could be struck on Wednesday. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.84%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.34%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.95%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 1.04%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.9% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

Import prices in Germany declined 3.8% year-over-year in November. Spain’s GDP grew 16.4% quarter-over-quarter but declined 9% year-over-year in the third quarter.

Economics

US durable goods orders increased 0.9% for November.

US initial jobless claims dropped to 803,000 in the week ended December 19, from 892,000 in the prior week.

Personal income declined 1.1% in November, while personal spending dropped 0.4%.

USA house price index rose 1.5% in October.

New home sales climbed 11% to an annual rate of 841,000 in November.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised lower to 80.7 in December versus a preliminary reading of 81.4.

Crude supplies declined 562,000 barrels in the latest week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 12:00 p.m. ET.