Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Disney Laying Off 32,000 Workers

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.29% to 29,958.11 while the NASDAQ rose 0.86% to 12,198.84. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35% to 3,642.29.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 12,885,290 cases with around 263,460 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,309,780 confirmed cases and 135,710 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,204,220 COVID-19 cases with 171,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 61,104,900 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,434,500 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors


Health care shares rose 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Verastem, Inc. VSTM, up 15%, and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RYTM, up 18%.


In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 0.7%.


Top Headline

Walt Disney Co DIS announced plans to lay off 32,000 workers during the first half of 2021, a rise from the 28,000 it reported in September.

 

 

Equities Trading UP


Aurora Mobile Limited JG shares shot up 40% to $4.42 after the company announced it signed a 5G strategic cooperation framework agreement and 5G messaging connection test agreement with Beijing Unicorn. The company also released quarterly results on Wednesday.


Shares of QuantumScape Corp. Cl A QS got a boost, shooting 39% to $32.65.


Apex Technology Acquisition Corporation APXT shares were also up, gaining 31% to $14.36. Apex Technology Acquisition recently announced it would acquire AvePoint, the largest data management solutions provider for the Microsoft cloud.

 


Equities Trading DOWN

Newborn Acquisition Corp. NBAC shares tumbled 22% to $17.40 after jumping over 86%on Wednesday. Vehicle-to-grid charging company Nuvve is going public through a merger with Newborn.

Shares of Bit Digital, Inc. BTBT were down 18% to $5.98 after the Chinese authorities have seized $4 billion in crypto from PlusToken scam.


Future FinTech Group Inc. FTFT was down, falling 16% to $2.52 after climbing 40% on Wednesday.

 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $45.40, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,803.80.


Silver traded down 0.8% Friday to $23.17 while copper rose 2.2% to $3.3810.


Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 rose 0.5% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%.

The French economy expanded 18.7% on quarter during the third quarter versus a record 13.8% decline in the earlier period, while industrial producer prices rose 0.1% in October. Import prices in Germany declined 3.9% year-over-year in October.


Economics

 

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesSmall CapGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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