Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 40 Points; Core Laboratories Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.14% to 28,422 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06% to 8,951.33. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07% to 3,219.12.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Q&K International Group Limited (NASDAQ: QK), up 11%, and Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE: IIPR), up 6%.

In trading on Tuesday, industrial shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Seadrill Limited (NYSE: SDRL) announced a contract extension for AOD II and AOD III in the Middle East, in direct continuation of their current contracts.

The total contract value is expected to be approximately $98 million and $101 million, respectively.

Equities Trading UP

Neovasc Inc. (NASDAQ: NVCN) shares shot up 63% to $6.44 after the company submitted its premarket approval application to the FDA for its Neovasc Reducer product.

Shares of Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) got a boost, shooting up 24% to $4.80 after jumping 36.27% on Monday.

Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLGL) shares were also up, gaining 19% to $17.33. Jefferies raised the price target of Sol-Gel from $14 to $24, while H.C. Wainwright raised the price target from $23 to $26.

Equities Trading DOWN

Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: CLB) shares tumbled 21% to $37.49 after the company issued soft Q4 and Q1 guidance and reduced its quarterly dividend, citing a decline in US offshore activity and slower-than-expected client discussions.

Shares of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYEG) were down 18% to $9.98 amid access wire press release showing 500,000 share stock offering priced at $10 per share.

Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRO) was down, falling 14% to $23.50 after gaining 18.2% on Monday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $61.35, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,523.20.

Silver traded down 0.4% Tuesday to $17.925, while copper fell 1.3% to $2.7975.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.08%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.66%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.06%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.66%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.07% while UK shares fell 0.59%.

Economics

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index increased 2.2% year-over-year in October, versus a 2.1% gain in the prior month.

The FHFA House Price Index rose 0.2% in October, versus a revised 0.7% increase in the prior month.

The Conference Board consumer confidence index fell to 126.5 in December, versus a prior revised reading of 126.8.