Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.26% to 29,746.26 while the NASDAQ fell 0.45% to 12,298.62. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.18% to 3,655.87.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 13,726,300 cases with around 270,690 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,499,410 confirmed cases and 138,120 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,386,780 COVID-19 cases with 173,810 deaths. In total, there were at least 63,995,700 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,483,220 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 1.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included QEP Resources, Inc. QEP, up 12%, and U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. SLCA, up 6%.
In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 0.8%.
Top Headline
Pfizer Inc PFE and its German partner BioNTech SE BNTX said Wednesday they have received regulatory approval in the United Kingdom for their COVID-19 vaccine..
The go-ahead from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) means the U.K. has become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine on an emergency basis ahead of the United States and the European Union.
Equities Trading UP
Sequential Brands Group, Inc. SQBG shares shot up 31% to $12.36 after the company announced relaunch of broad review of strategic alternatives.
Shares of Tredegar Corporation TG got a boost, shooting 25% to $20.74 after the company declared a special dividend of $5.97 per share.
Kingsway Financial Services Inc. KFS shares were also up, gaining 24% to $3.7462. Kingsway Financial Services reported the closing of its acquisition of PWI Holdings, Inc.
Equities Trading DOWN
Ovid Therapeutics Inc. OVID shares tumbled 55% to $3.025 after the company announced topline results from the Phase 3 NEPTUNE study of OV101 for the treatment of Angelman syndrome, showing the study did not meet the primary endpoint of change in overall score on the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement-Angelman syndrome. Citigroup downgraded Ovid Therapeutics from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from$10 to $4.
Shares of Auris Medical Holding Ltd. EARS were down 36% to $3.33 after the company priced an $8 million offering at $4 per share.
FuelCell Energy, Inc. FCEL was down, falling 26% to $6.66 after the company announced a common stock offering of 34.5 million shares at $6.50 per share.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $44.21, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,829.40.
Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $24.24 while copper fell 0.6% to $3.4655.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%.
Retail sales in Germany climbed 2.6% in October versus a revised 1.9% decline in September.
Economics
US private sector created 307,000 jobs in November, the ADP reported. However, analysts were expecting an addition of 410,000 jobs.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Federal Open Market Committee will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.
New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Date | ticker | name | Actual EPS | EPS Surprise | Actual Rev | Rev Surprise |
|---|
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
