Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges 140 Points; Ocugen Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.45% to 31,288 while the NASDAQ rose 0.48% to 13,922.14. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.37% to 3,901.09.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 27,008,090 cases with around 463,480 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,838,190 confirmed cases and 155,080 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,524,640 COVID-19 cases with 231,530 deaths. In total, there were at least 106,220,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,318,560 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 4.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Clean Energy Fuels Corp CLNE, up 40%, and Ring Energy Inc REI, up 28%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

Hasbro, Inc. NAS reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Hasbro reported quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.14 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in $1.72 billion, which also surpassed expectations of $1.69 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ocugen, Inc. OCGN shares shot up 180% to $14.69 after announcing the sale of 3 million common shares at $7.65 per share in a registered direct offering, with gross proceeds of $23 million.

Shares of ARYA Sciences Acquisition III Corp ARYA got a boost, shooting 101% to $22.56 after the company announced it would merge with Nautilus Biotechnology.

Baosheng Media Group Holdings Limited BAOS shares were also up, gaining 79% to $8.95 as the company priced its 6 million share IPO at $5 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

CBAK Energy Technology Inc CBAT shares tumbled 10% to $7.30 after the company priced its 4.47 million common stock offering at $7.83 per share.

Shares of Ceragon Networks Ltd CRNT were down 10% to $5.00 after the company posted a wider quarterly loss.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC was down, falling 12% to $6.01 after Wanda America Entertainment, a major Chinese investor in the company, converted its Class B shares to Class A in order to permit sales of common stock. The stock continues to sell off after its recent retail-driven surge.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $57.75, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,832.80.

Silver traded up 1.9% Monday to $27.54 while copper rose 1.3% to $3.6740.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.05% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.02%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 gained 0.47%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.53% and Italy’s FTSE MIB surged 1.48%.

Spain's industrial production declined 0.6% year-over-year in December versus a revised 3.7% drop in the previous month, while German industrial production stalled in December.

Economics

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