Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2%; NeuroMetrix Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.2% to 28,642.56 while the NASDAQ fell 1.56% to 9,169.34. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.26% to 3,254.06.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.04% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV, up 3%, and Beyond Meat, Inc. BYND, up 6%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 2.3%.

Top Headline

D. R. Horton Inc DHI reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

D.R. Horton reported adjusted first-quarterly earnings of $1.07 per share on Monday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 92 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $4.021 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $3.77 billion.

The company raised fiscal year 2020 sales guidance from $18.5-$19 billion to $18.5-19.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP

NanoViricides, Inc. NNVC shares shot up 58% to $13.31. Empery Asset Management disclosed a 9.51% passive stake in Nanoviricides. Shares of several vaccine companies are trading higher as the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread, boosting the demand outlook for a potential vaccine. Some companies have said they are initiating development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Shares of Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. CBLI got a boost, shooting up 145% to $3.24 on over 100 times their average volume. The strong move came amid a lack of any significant news from the company. It's apparently in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak in China, which has thus far claimed 80 lives and left about 461 in critical condition. Cleveland BioLabs neither has any coronavirus drug or vaccine in its pipeline nor an experimental one targeting the deadly disease. The company's most advanced pipeline asset is entolimod, which is in Phase 1 development as a radiation countermeasure and as an immunotherapy for oncology and other indications. Apart from another experimental drug CBLB612, which is being evaluated for chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression, Cleveland BioLabs has an adjuvant vaccine candidate codenamed SA-701 in early-stage of development. Vaccine adjuvants are chemical substances that may be added to vaccines to boost the immune response.

Lianluo Smart Limited LLIT shares were also up, gaining 67% to $1.82 after climbing 55.40% on Friday.

Equities Trading DOWN

NeuroMetrix, Inc. NURO shares tumbled 29% to $3.36 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results.

Shares of Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. CANF were down 15% to $2.28.

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. PLG was down, falling 16% to $1.85.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 2% to $53.12, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,578.30.

Silver traded down 0.2% Monday to $18.07, while copper fell 3.3% to $ 2.5965.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 2.26%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.05%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2.31% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 2.74%, and the French CAC 40 fell 2.68% while UK shares fell 2.29%.

Economics

U.S. new home sales fell 0.4% to an annual rate of 694,000 for December.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index increased to a reading of -0.2 in January, compared to a reading of -3.2 in the prior month.