Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 120 Points; Soligenix Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.40% to 30,096 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46% to 12,801.76. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02% to 3,694.35.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 18,043,180 cases with around 319,460 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,075,110 confirmed cases and 146,110 deaths, while Brazil reported over 7,263,610 COVID-19 cases with 187,290 deaths. In total, there were at least 77,455,980 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,704,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 1.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aurora Mobile Limited JG, up 46%, and MicroVision, Inc. MVIS, up 35%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares dipped 1.1%.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

CarMax posted quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.14 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $5.18 billion, versus expectations of $5.00 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Aurora Mobile Limited JG shares shot up 45% to $4.621 after the company disclosed it has entered into a partnership agreement with a global leading new energy vehicle manufacturer to deliver an enhanced intelligent driving experience.

Shares of Ocugen, Inc. OCGN got a boost, shooting 125% to $0.6625 after the company and Bharat Biotech announced plans to co-develop COVAXIN whole-virion inactivated COVID-19 vaccine for the US market.

Sportsman's Warehouse Holdings, Inc. SPWH shares were also up, gaining 39% to $17.65 after the company agreed to be acquired by Great American Outdoors Group for $18.00 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Soligenix, Inc. SNGX shares tumbled 50% to $1.38 after the company announced preliminary top-line results for its pivotal Phase 3 DOM-INNATE trial evaluating SGX942 in the treatment of severe oral mucositis, or SOM, in patients with head and neck cancer receiving chemoradiation. The primary endpoint of median duration of SOM did not achieve the pre-specified criterion for statistical significance, although biological activity was observed with a 56% reduction in the median duration of SOM from 18 days in the placebo group to 8 days in the SGX942 treatment group, it added.

Shares of SOS Limited SOS were down 40% to $1.2850 after the company reported pricing of $4 million direct offering of ADSs.

Venus Concept Inc. VERO was down, falling 24% to $1.93 after the company disclosed a proposed public offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $47.23, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,866.90.

Silver traded down 3.9% Tuesday to $25.34 while copper fell 1.7% to $3.5155.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today despite of new Covid-19 strain resulting in lockdown measures and flight suspensions in various countries. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.18%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.85%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 2.03%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 1.3%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.36% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.57%.

Eurozone consumer confidence index rose to minus 13.9 in December. Britain’s GDP increased 16% quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter but shrank 8.6% year-over-year. The country’s current account deficit increased to £15.7 billion in the third quarter.

Economics

The US economy expanded by an annualized rate of 33.4% in the third quarter, following a record 31.4% contraction in the prior quarter.

Sales of existing houses in the US declined 2.5% to 6.69 million units in November.

The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index increased to 19 in December compared to 15 in November.