Dow Turns Lower; Crude Oil Rises Sharply

U.S. stocks pared gains midway through trading, with the Dow Jones turning lower on Tuesday

The Dow traded down 0.14% to 33,957.30 while the NASDAQ rose 0.29% to 11,176.17. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.25% to 4,000.38.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 2% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Consumer Discretionary NFE, up 9%, and DMC Global Inc. BOOM, up 6%.

In trading on Monday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

The annual inflation rate in the US slowed for a fifth month in a row to 7.1% in November, recording the lowest level since December last year, and compared to market estimates of 7.3%.

The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.1% from a month ago in November, versus a 0.4% increase in the previous month.

Equities Trading UP

• BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) shares shot up 32% to $1.00 after the company presented data with plinabulin for the prevention of docetaxel-induced neutropenia in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer at three medical conferences.
• Shares of OpGen, Inc. OPGN got a boost, shooting 256% to $0.4457 after the company announced topline data from its Unyvero urinary tract infections (UTI) clinical trial.
• Netcapital Inc. NCPL shares were also up, gaining 59% to $2.1983 following Q2 results. Netcapital posted Q2 earnings of $0.04 per share on sales of $1.78 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Enzo Biochem, Inc. ENZ shares tumbled 20% to $1.4870 following Q1 results.
• Shares of The Lion Electric Company LEV were down 15% to $2.2750. Lion Electric announced pricing of 19,685,040 unit offering at $2.54 per unit.
• Quotient Limited (NASDAQ: QTNT) was down, falling 49% to $0.35. Quotient announced intent to voluntary delist from the Nasdaq Global Market.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.2% to $76.27 while gold traded up 1.8% at $1,823.60.

Silver traded up 2.4% to $23.965 on Tuesday while copper rose 1.5% to $3.8585.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 jumped 1.29%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.76% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.83%. The German DAX climbed 1.34%, French CAC 40 rose 1.42% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.37%.

German current account surplus shrank to EUR 5.9 billion in October from EUR 16.3 billion in the year-ago month. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone rose to -23.6 in December from -38.7 a month ago, while ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany rose to -23.3 from -36.7. Industrial production in Italy dropped 1% from a month ago in October.

The annual inflation rate in Germany came in at 10.0% in November, while payroll employment in the French private sector rose 0.6% to 20.83 million in the third quarter. The unemployment rate in the UK rose to 3.7% during the three months to October.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with the Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.40% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.68%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.09%.

Manufacturing production in Hong Kong declined 0.6% year-over-year in the third quarter. The NAB business confidence index in Australia declined 4 points to a reading of -4 in November, while Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose 3% to 80.

Economics

• The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 91.9 in November from 91.3 in October.
• The annual inflation rate in the US slowed for a fifth month in a row to 7.1% in November, recording the lowest level since December last year, and compared to market estimates of 7.3%.
• The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.1% from a month ago in November, versus a 0.4% increase in the previous month.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 101,369,160 cases with around 1,109,980 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,676,240 cases and 530,650 deaths, while France reported over 38,515,720 COVID-19 cases with 159,870 deaths. In total, there were at least 654,461,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,660,700 deaths.