Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 2%; ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.70% to 35,041.74 while the NASDAQ fell 0.51% to 14,970.85. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02% to 4,456.20.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 42,932,210 cases with around 688,040 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,678,780 cases and 447,190 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,351,970 COVID-19 cases with 594,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 231,898,110 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,749,570 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped 2.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Camber Energy, Inc. CEI, up 22% and SandRidge Energy, Inc. SD up 12%.

In trading on Monday, health care shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

US durable goods orders rose 1.8% in August following a revised 0.5% growth in July. Analysts, meanwhile were expecting for a 0.7% increase.

 

Equities Trading UP

Red Cat Holdings, Inc. RCAT shares shot up 63% to $3.92 after the company said its subsidiary, Skypersonic, Inc, won a five-year contract from NASA to provide drone and rover software, hardware, and support for the Simulated Mars mission.

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP got a boost, shooting 32% to $24.99 after the company announced shareholder approval of the strategic merger with Quoin Pharmaceuticals.

DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. DMAC shares were also up, gaining 12% to $4.39. DiaMedica Therapeutics reported a $30 million private placement at $3.92 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Limited ASLN shares tumbled 29% to $2.2980 after the company announced topline data from its Phase 1 study of ASLAN004 for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD).

Shares of Evelo Biosciences, Inc. EVLO were down 7% to $6.73 after the company announced data from its Phase 2 study of EDP1815 for mild and moderate psoriasis.

ReWalk Robotics Ltd. RWLK was down, falling 10% to $1.8101 as the company reported a 16 million share offering at $2.035 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $75.62, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,753.10.

Silver traded up 1.3% Monday to $22.715 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.2895.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.02%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.48% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.46%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.22%, French CAC 40 rose 0.39% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.5%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.2% in August, unchanged from the earlier month's growth. Producer prices in Spain surged 18% year-over-year in August following a 15.6% increase in the prior month.

Economics

US durable goods orders rose 1.8% in August following a revised 0.5% growth in July. Analysts, meanwhile were expecting for a 0.7% increase.

The Treasury will auction 3-month bills and 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here