Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Down 250 Points; OPKO Health Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.84% to 33,636.46 while the NASDAQ fell 1.83% to 13,517.61. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.98% to 4,310.71.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 71,925,930 cases with around 889,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 39,543,320 cases and 489,890 deaths, while Brazil reported over 24,044,430 COVID-19 cases with 623,140 deaths. In total, there were at least 352,362,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,615,440 deaths.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares fell by just 1.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Unilever PLC UL, up 7% and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. NGVC up 3%.

In trading on Monday, consumer discretionary shares dipped 3.8%.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company HAL reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Halliburton posted quarterly earnings of $0.36 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.34 per share. The company’s quarterly revenue came in at $4.28 billion, versus expectations of $4.09 billion.

Halliburton raised its quarterly dividend from $0.045 to $0.12 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

Exterran Corporation EXTN shares shot up 55% to $4.6407 after the company said it would merge with Enerflex to create a premier integrated global provider of energy infrastructure.

Shares of Kohl's Corporation KSS got a boost, shooting 32% to $61.81 following media reports suggesting multiple funds are interested in acquiring the company.

Adtalem Global Education Inc. ATGE shares were also up, gaining 11% to $30.94. Adtalem Global Education agreed to sell its Financial Services segment, including ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) and Becker Professional Education and OnCourse Learning, to a consortium of Wendel Group and Colibri Group in an all-cash transaction for $1 billion.

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Equities Trading DOWN

Yoshitsu Co., Ltd TKLF shares tumbled 83% to $5.05 as stocks continued to sell off in anticipation of Fed policy tightening in 2022.

Shares of OneSmart International Education Group Limited ONE were down 37% to $2.46 following effectiveness of change from ADS ratio from 1:40 to 1:1000.

OPKO Health, Inc. OPK was down, falling 23% to $3.2450. The FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) to Pfizer and OPKO Health's somatrogon. Somatrogon is an investigational once-weekly long-acting recombinant human growth hormone for pediatric growth hormone deficiency (GHD). Barrington Research also downgraded OPKO from Outperform to Market Perform.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7% to $82.84, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,838.00.

Silver traded down 2.2% Monday to $23.78 while copper fell 2.6% to $4.4080.

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Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 3.81%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.63%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 3.2%. The German DAX dropped 3.80%, French CAC 40 fell 3.97% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 4.02%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone services PMI fell to 51.2 in January from 53.1 in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI rose to 59 from 58. The IHS Markit France manufacturing PMI declined to 55.5 in January from 55.6 in December, while services PMI slipped to 53.1 in January.

The IHS Markit Germany manufacturing PMI rose to 60.5 in January, while services PMI climbed to 52.2. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI fell to 53.3 in January from 53.6 a month ago, while manufacturing PMI declined to 56.9 from 57.9.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to -0.15 in December versus a revised reading of +0.44 in the earlier month.

The IHS Markit services PMI fell to 50.9 in January from 57.6 in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI declined to 55 in January from 56.7 in December.

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

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