Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Alibaba Hit With Antitrust Probe By China

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.16% to 30,178.22 while the NASDAQ rose 0.38% to 12,820.00. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.25% to 3,699.41.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 18,466,220 cases with around 326,230 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,123,770 confirmed cases and 146,750 deaths, while Brazil reported over 7,365,510 COVID-19 cases with 189,220 deaths. In total, there were at least 78,810,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,732,830 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. AVCT, up 11%, and GTY Technology Holdings Inc. GTYH, up 7%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

The Chinese government is investigating Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA for anti-monopolistic behavior.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation confirmed it started looking into Aliba's operations. Specifically, Alibaba dictates that merchants must work either exclusively on its platform or on a rival -- but not on both.

Coinciding with the antitrust probe, Chinese officials are also meeting with Alibaba's payment affiliate Ant to supervise issues related to how the company operates in a market-oriented way, according to CNBC.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. SENS shares shot up 51% to $0.9753 after the company lifted its sales guidance for the fourth quarter. The company said it now expects Q4 net sales of $3.5 million, versus prior forecast of $2.5 million..

Shares of Air T, Inc. AIRT got a boost, shooting 86% to $18.10 after the company announced plans to form a new aircraft equity vehicle. Air T will form a new aircraft asset management business to be called Contrail Aircraft Management, and a new aircraft capital joint venture to be called Contrail Fund II.

SIFCO Industries, Inc. SIF shares were also up, gaining 54% to $6.01 after the company reported a strong rise in its earnings for the fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

HighPeak Energy, Inc. HPK shares tumbled 23% to $14.83.

Shares of Ocugen, Inc. OCGN were down 19% to $2.10. Ocugen shares climbed 223% on Wednesday after the company announced it will convene its Meeting of Stockholders on Dec. 23 to modify a proposal, decreasing the proposed aggregate number of shares of common stock that the Company would be authorized to issue.

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. EYES was down, falling 19% to $2.60 after surging around 15% on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $47.81, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,879.90.

Silver traded up 0.1% Thursday to $25.94 while copper fell 0.1% to $3.5515.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today on prospects of Britain and the EU reaching a Brexit trade deal. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 0.1% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%.

 

Economics

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