Nasdaq Down 1%; Crude Oil Falls Sharply

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

The Dow traded down 0.57% to 32,956.77 while the NASDAQ fell 1.09% to 10,352.44. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.82% to 3,807.88.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares gained by 0.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included So-Young International Inc. SY, up 16%, and Telesat Corporation TSAT, up 14%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 3.2%.

Top Headline

US manufacturing PMI fell to 46.2 for December, versus prior reading of 47.7. Analysts were also expecting a reading of 46.2.

Equities Trading UP

• Lucira Health, Inc. LHDX shares shot up 395% to $0.55 after the company announced it submitted an Emergency Use Authorization application to the FDA for OTC use of its COVID-19 & Flu test.
• Shares of Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. JSPR got a boost, shooting 590% to $3.28 after the company announced clinical data from a Phase I/II trial of briquilimab as a conditioning treatment in sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.
• Horizon Global Corporation NYSE: HZN) shares were also up, gaining 340% to $1.71 after the company announced it will be acquired by First Brands Group.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Tesla, Inc. TSLA shares tumbled 14% to $105.42 after the company reported fourth-quarter deliveries that came in below market estimates. The company delivered more than 405,278 cars in the fourth quarter, and produced over 439,000. This represented a 31.33% year-over-year rise and a 17.87% sequential growth. The consensus estimate for Q4 deliveries compiled by Tesla’s investor relations was 417,957 units.
• Shares of Palisade Bio, Inc. PALI were down 26% to $3.8581. Palisade Bio recently announced $2.5 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement priced above market under Nasdaq rules.
• PDS Biotechnology Corporation PDSB was down, falling 15% to $11.24. PDS Biotech announced exclusive global license agreement for investigational IL-12 tumor-targeted cytokine from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4% to $77.03 while gold traded up 1% at $1,843.60.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $24.175 on Tuesday while copper fell 1.2% to $3.7650.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.22%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.37% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.33%. The German DAX gained 0.80%, French CAC 40 rose 0.44% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.15%.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI rose to 45.3 in December versus a preliminary reading of 44.7. The unemployment rate in Germany came in unchanged at 5.5% in December.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.84%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.88%.

The Caixin general manufacturing PMI for China declined to 49.0 in December, recording the lowest reading since September. Singapore’s economy expanded 2.2% from a year ago in the fourth quarter.

Economics

• US manufacturing PMI fell to 46.2 for December, versus prior reading of 47.7. Analysts were also expecting a reading of 46.2.
• Construction spending increased 0.2% month-over-month in November versus a revised 0.2% drop in the prior month.

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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 102,686,750 cases with around 1,118,480 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,680,090 cases and 530,700 deaths, while France reported over 39,333,260 COVID-19 cases with 162,210 deaths. In total, there were at least 665,732,580 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,699,830 deaths.