Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles 450 Points; Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 1.47% to 30,153.13 while the NASDAQ fell 1.56% to 13,129.54. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.43% to 3,733.22.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 25,767,160 cases with around 433,200 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,720,040 confirmed cases and 154,010 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,058,680 COVID-19 cases with 221,540 deaths. In total, there were at least 101,536,120 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,192,910 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northwest Natural Holding Co NWN, up 4%, and Artesian Resources Corporation ARTNA, up 3%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 3%.

Top Headline

Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Caterpillar reported quarterly earnings of $2.12 per share, missing analysts’ expectations of $1.49 per share. The company posted revenue of $11.20 billion, versus estimates of $11.25 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Siebert Financial Corp. SIEB shares shot up 149% to $9.24 on heavy volume.

Shares of Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CATB got a boost, shooting 88% to $4.5690 after the company announced the acquisition of Quellis Biosciences.

GameStop Corp. GME shares were also up, gaining 58% to $305.95 after Robinhood said it would allow some buying of the stocks on Friday after sparking outrage over discontinuing purchases of GME, AMC, and high stocks seeing social media interest. The company’s stock dropped over 44% on Thursday.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Drive Shack Inc. DS shares tumbled 22% to $2.46 after the company announced a common stock offering of 20.83 million shares at $2.40 per share.

Shares of Ucommune International Ltd UK were down 34% to $3.3750 after the company reported pricing of $20 million underwritten offering.

eHealth, Inc. EHTH was down, falling 36% to $49.91 after the company issued weak preliminary sales results for Q4 and FY20. The company also reported a $225 million investment from HIG Capital via convertible preferred stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $52.21, while gold traded up 0.8% to $1,852.30.

Silver traded up 4% Friday to $26.95 while copper fell 0.9% to $3.5460.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.87%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.21% and the German DAX 30 dipped 1.71%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 2.02%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.82% and Italy’s FTSE MIB dropped 1.57%.

The German economy increased 0.1% on quarter during the final three months of 2020, while unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in December. Spain's GDP expanded by 0.4% on quarter. French industrial producer prices rose 0.8% in December, while GDP contracted 1.3% quarter-on-quarter.

Economics

The employment cost index rose 0.7% on quarter in the three months to December.

Personal spending declined 0.2% in December.

The Chicago PMI climbed to 63.8 in January from 58.7 in December.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised lower to 79 in January versus a preliminary reading of 79.2.

The pending home sales index surged 21.4% year-over-year in December.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 6 to 295 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak again at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is set to speak at 4:25 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here