Crypto Whales Are Loading Up — Are You?
New research shows the biggest crypto buyers are back. And this time? They could hold for the possibility that Bitcoin will surpass $100,000 in 2024. You don’t want to miss the next massive crypto bull run like we saw in 2020 and 2021. To know exactly what’s going on and what to buy… Get Access To Benzinga’s Best Crypto Research and Investments For Only $1.
Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08% to 30,174.01 while the NASDAQ fell 0.2% to 12,569.88. However, the S&P gained 0.02% to 3,695.29.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 16,725,040 cases with around 303,860 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,932,540 confirmed cases and 144,090 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,970,030 COVID-19 cases with 182,790 deaths. In total, there were at least 73,603,540 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,638,330 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer discretionary shares climbed 0.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Drive Shack Inc. (NYSE:DS), up 23%, and Dada Nexus Limited (NASDAQ:DADA), up 5%.
In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.7%.
Top Headline
News broke late Tuesday that Canadian cannabis growers Aphria Inc. (NASDAQ:APHA) and Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLRY) are in merger talks and the companies confirmed the merger Wednesday morning.
Under the terms of the arrangement, shareholders of Aphria will receive 0.8381 shares of Tilray for each Aphria common share.
Equities Trading UP
Sio Gene Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIOX) shares shot up 41% to $4.00 after the company reported positive six-month follow-up data from the low-dose cohort of the dose escalation study of AXO-AAV-GM1, its AAV9-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis.
Shares of Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) got a boost, shooting 26% to $5.80 after climbing around 17% on Tuesday.
Diginex Limited (NASDAQ:EQOS) shares were also up, gaining 23% to $8.81.
Equities Trading DOWN
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Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited (NYSE:CCM) shares tumbled 44% to $2.98 after surging over 179% on Tuesday.
Shares of vTv Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:VTVT) were down 29% to $2.12 after the company announced its Phase 2 study of azeliragon in Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes did not meet its primary objective.
BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ:BLRX) was down, falling 26% to $2.6862. BioLineRx announced positive results from the triple combination arm of the its Phase 2a COMBAT/KEYNOTE-202 clinical study evaluating motixafortide in combination with Merck’s Keytruda and chemotherapy in patients with second-line stage IV pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $47.67, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,866.40.
Silver traded up 3.1% Wednesday to $25.405 while copper rose 0.5% to $3.5635.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.9%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.8%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 1.6%, French CAC 40 gained 0.7% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9%.
Eurozone services PMI climbed to 47.3 in December versus 41.7 in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI gained to 55.5 from 53.8. Consumer prices in the UK rose 0.3% year-over-year in November, while producer prices declined 0.8% year-over-year in November.
Economics
US retail sales fell 1.1% for November.
The IHS Markit composite PMI declined to 55.7 in December versus November’s reading of 58.6.
US business inventories increased 0.7% for October.
The NAHB housing market index declined to 86 in December versus 90 in November.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Crypto Whales Are Loading Up — Are You?
New research shows the biggest crypto buyers are back. And this time? They could hold for the possibility that Bitcoin will surpass $100,000 in 2024. You don’t want to miss the next massive crypto bull run like we saw in 2020 and 2021. To know exactly what’s going on and what to buy… Get Access To Benzinga’s Best Crypto Research and Investments For Only $1.