S&P 500 Down Over 1%; Crude Oil Rises

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 dropping more than 1% on Monday.

The Dow traded down 0.90% to 32,625.78 while the NASDAQ fell 1.71% to 10,522.38. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.26% to 3,803.96.

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 YPF Sociedad Anónima YPF, up 5%, and Mammoth Energy Services, Inc. TUSK, up 4%.

In trading on Monday, communication services shares tumbled by 1.5%.

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 234% to $213.06 after the company announced resmetirom achieved both primary endpoints in NASH and liver fibrosis trial.
• Shares of Camber Energy, Inc. CEI got a boost, shooting 99% to $0.1231 after the company announced an anticipated effective date of December 21, 2022 for its previously-announced 1-for-50 reverse stock split.
• Qumu Corporation QUMU shares were also up, gaining 98% to $0.87 after Enghouse Systems announced it will acquire the company for $0.90 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Cosmos Health Inc. (NASDAQ: COSM) shares tumbled 57% to $9.88 after the company reported pricing of $32.5 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement priced at-the-market.
• Shares of Forward Pharma A/S FWP were down 34% to $1.7277. Forward Pharma announced expected delisting of its American Depositary Shares from the Nasdaq Capital Market.
• Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. NEPT was down, falling 21% to $0.2771. Neptune Wellness Solutions reported a net loss of $37.3 million for the fiscal second quarter 2023 versus a year-ago net loss of $12.1 million. Its net sales revenue declined to $12 million from $12.5 million.

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

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9% to $75.72 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,798.20.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $23.26 on Monday while copper rose 0.5% to $3.7795.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.27%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.40% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.30%. The German DAX gained 0.36%, French CAC 40 rose 0.32% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.02%.

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.

Check out this: 5 Stock Picks For Last Week From Benzinga's Most Accurate Analysts

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.