Nasdaq Down 100 Points; Kala Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.59% to 33,046.17 while the NASDAQ fell 0.98% to 10,251.61. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.74% to 3,800.83.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares rose by 0.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MoneyLion Inc. ML, up 31%, and Inter & Co, Inc. INTR, up 14%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

US pending home sales dropped 4% month-over-month in November, recording a sixth straight monthly drop.

Equities Trading UP

• Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. KALA shares shot up 239% to $13.29 after the company announced FDA acceptance of a IND application for its KPI-012 for the treatment of persistent corneal epithelial defect.
• Shares of Minerva Surgical, Inc. UTRS got a boost, shooting 78% to $0.29 after the company reported a $30 million private placement of common stock led by Accelmed Partners.
• Gorilla Technology Group Inc. GRRR shares were also up, gaining 44% to $6.48 after the company announced it is entering the MENA region with a security convergence offering in a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. NERV shares tumbled 36% to $1.5019. Minerva Neurosciences confirmed that the FDA's refuse letter from October 14, 2022 remains in effect.
• Shares of Unicycive Therapeutics, Inc. UNCY were down 34% to $0.4402. Unicycive Therapeutics’ pivotal bioequivalence (BE) study comparing Renazorb to Fosrenol has met the primary endpoint.
• Tuesday Morning Corporation TUEM was down, falling 27% to $0.6060. Tuesday Morning recently announced it will voluntarily delist from the Nasdaq Capital Market.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6% to $78.24 while gold traded down 0.5% at $1,813.50.

Silver traded down 1.6% to $23.825 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.1% to $3.8375.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.13%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.32% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.14%. The German DAX fell 0.50%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.61% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.36%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Japan’s Nikkei dropping 0.41%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.56% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.26%.

Industrial production in Japan declined by 0.1% month-over-month in November versus a 3.2% drop in October.

Economics

• US pending home sales dropped 4% month-over-month in November, recording a sixth straight monthly drop.
• The Richmond Fed manufacturing index edged higher to 1 in December from -9 a month ago, while sector Activity revenues index declined to -12 in December from -2.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 102,307,320 cases with around 1,116,360 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,678,760 cases and 530,690 deaths, while France reported over 39,159,750 COVID-19 cases with 161,150 deaths. In total, there were at least 662,976,660 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,689,300 deaths.