US Stocks Slightly Lower; Nasdaq Down 100 Points

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 100 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.03% to 32,909.89 while the NASDAQ fell 1.01% to 10,597.00. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.40% to 3,837.00.

Also check this: Dow Records Losses For Second Straight Week But Investor Optimism Improves

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 0.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tidewater Inc. TDW, up 4%, and Weatherford International plc WFRD, up 3%.

In trading on Monday, communication services shares tumbled by 1.1%.

Top Headline

The NAHB housing market index declined two points to a reading of 31 in December, recording the weakest reading since mid 2012.

Equities Trading UP

• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDGL) shares shot up 233% to $212.49 after the company announced resmetirom achieved both primary endpoints in NASH and liver fibrosis trial.
• Shares of Caravelle International Group CACO got a boost, shooting 70% to $9.36.
• Viking Therapeutics, Inc. VKTX shares were also up, gaining 58% to $6.37 in sympathy with Madrigal Pharmaceuticals which announced a successful trial for liver fibrosis.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Cosmos Health Inc. (NASDAQ: COSM) shares tumbled 59% to $9.43 after the company reported pricing of $32.5 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement priced at-the-market.
• Shares of 89bio, Inc. ETNB were down 31% to $7.30.
• NantHealth, Inc. NH was down, falling 32% to $3.90. NantHealth recently announced a 1-for-15 reverse stock split.

Also check out: Bright Health And 2 Other Stocks Under $1 Insiders Are Aggressively Buying

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $75.45 while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,800.90.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $23.255 on Monday while copper rose 0.6% to $3.7835.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7%. The German DAX gained 0.4%, French CAC 40 rose 0.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%.

Construction output in the Eurozone increased 2.2% year-over-year in October. Hourly labor costs in the Eurozone climbed by 2.9% year-over-year in the third quarter, while wages and salaries in the rose 2.1% percent year- over -year during the quarter.

The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany increased for a third straight month to 88.6 in December, recording the highest level since August.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Monday, with the Japan’s Nikkei dropping 1.05% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declining 0.50%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.92%.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index declined two points to a reading of 31 in December, recording the weakest reading since mid 2012.

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 101,760,140 cases with around 1,112,970 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,677,200 cases and 530,670 deaths, while France reported over 38,891,690 COVID-19 cases with 160,350 deaths. In total, there were at least 657,938,940 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,672,420 deaths.