Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps 580 Points; Cassava Sciences Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.92% to 30,792 while the NASDAQ rose 1.78% to 13,642.45. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.78% to 3,840.99.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 26,322,210 cases with around 443,610 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,766,240 confirmed cases and 154,480 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,229,320 COVID-19 cases with 225,090 deaths. In total, there were at least 103,499,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,240,720 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 2.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Donegal Group Inc. DGICB, up 17%, and Silvergate Capital Corporation SI, up 14%.

In trading on Tuesday, real estate shares rose by just 0.7%.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.

Pfizer reported quarterly earnings of $0.42 per share, missing analysts’ expectations of $0.48 per share. The company posted revenue of $11.70 billion, versus estimates of $11.43 billion.

Pfizer raised its FY21 adjusted EPS guidance from $3.00-$3.10 to $3.10-$3.20.

Equities Trading UP

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBRX shares shot up 31% to $6.14 after the company announced 100% survival was achieved in osteosarcoma lunch metastases animal model.

Shares of Cassava Sciences, Inc.. SAVA got a boost, shooting 192% to $67.05 after the company announced results of an interim analysis from an open-label study of simufilam, its lead drug candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The company said "patients' cognition and behavior scores both improved following six months of simufilam treatment, with no safety issues."

American Resources Corp AREC shares were also up, gaining 37% to $3.4289 as the company acquired exclusive rights to Pursue University's rare earth element innovations, critical for clean energy technologies.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

GameStop Corp. GME shares tumbled 58% to $94.94 after declining around 31% on Monday. The stock has been increasingly volatile following interest from retail investors.

Shares of Immunovant Inc IMVT were down 43% to $24.80 after the company announced a voluntary pause of dosing in its ongoing clinical trials for IMVT-1401. The decision follows the unearthing of a physiological signal consisting of elevated total cholesterol and LDL levels in IMVT-1401-treated patients in a Phase 2b trial in thyroid eye disease.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC was down, falling 43% to $7.57. The stock has been increasingly volatile following interest from retail investors.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $54.75, while gold traded down 1.4% to $1,837.90.

Silver traded down 9% Tuesday to $26.780 while copper fell 0.8% to $3.5190.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.29%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.96% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.56%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 1.9864%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.78% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1.11%.

The Eurozone economy shrank 0.7% on quarter during the final three months of 2020. Annual inflation rate in France rose to 0.6% in January, while UK’s annual house price growth slowed to 6.4% in January.

Economics

On the economics calendar Tuesday, there is no important data due out.