Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; News Corp To Buy Base Chemicals

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.39% to 36,089.53 while the NASDAQ rose 0.78% to 15,774.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.70% to 4,758.97.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 53,222,420 cases with around 837,850 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,793,330 cases and 479,990 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,239,430 COVID-19 cases with 618,480 deaths. In total, there were at least 280,391,180 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,418,560 deaths.


Leading and Lagging Sectors


Information technology shares climbed 1.2% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. AVCT, up 33% and Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc. SDIG up 7%.


In trading on Monday, energy shares rose by just 0.1%.


Top Headline


News Corp NWS agreed to acquire the Base Chemicals business for $295 million cash from S&P Global Inc SPGI and IHS Markit Ltd INFO.


Equities Trading UP


Microbot Medical Inc. MBOT shares shot up 57% to $8.51 after the company announced a strategic collaboration with Stryker Corporation to develop the LIBERTY robotic system for neurovascular applications.


Shares of PyroGenesis Canada Inc. PYR got a boost, shooting 28% to $3.2438.


Reliance Global Group, Inc. RELI shares were also up, gaining 24% to $5.36. Reliance Global Group recently announced pricing of $20.0 million private placement with institutional investors.


Check out these big movers of the day


Equities Trading DOWN

BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. BBIO shares tumbled 71% to $11.66 after the company's phase 3 trial to treat symptomatic transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy did not achieve its primary endpoint.


Shares of BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. BVXV were down 20% to $2.21 after the company priced an offering of roughly 3.81 million ADSs at $2.36 per ADS.


Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. KTTA was down, falling 16% to $1.6950 after jumping more than 36% on Thursday. Pasithea recently said it expanded its footprint with second Ketamine Therapy Clinic in the UK.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $73.82, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,811.20.


Silver traded up 0.3% Monday to $23.010 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.3980.


Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.6% and the German DAX 40 gained 0.4%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.1%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.7%.

 

Economics


The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for December is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. The index is expected to drop to 9.5 in December from previous month’s reading of 11.8.


The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.


The Treasury will auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsCommunications EquipmentInformation TechnologyMid-Morning Market Update
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...