Mid-afternoon market update: Dow edges higher; Sequential brands shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.08% to 29,846.44 while the NASDAQ fell 0.09% to 12,343.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13% to 3,667.11.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 13,726,300 cases with around 270,690 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,499,410 confirmed cases and 138,120 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,386,780 COVID-19 cases with 173,810 deaths. In total, there were at least 63,995,700 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,483,220 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 3.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Energy Fuels Inc. UUUU 13.6%, up 14%, and Kosmos Energy Ltd. KOS 14.42%, up 12%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc PFE 3.03% and its German partner BioNTech SE BNTX 5.6% said Wednesday they have received regulatory approval in the United Kingdom for their COVID-19 vaccine..

The go-ahead from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) means the U.K. has become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine on an emergency basis ahead of the United States and the European Union.

Equities Trading UP

Sequential Brands Group, Inc. SQBG 25.03% shares shot up 24% to $11.69 after the company announced relaunch of broad review of strategic alternatives.

Shares of Tredegar Corporation TG 32.23% got a boost, shooting 31% to $21.66 after the company declared a special dividend of $5.97 per share.

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. KFS 30.52% shares were also up, gaining 24% to $3.7668 Kingsway Financial Services reported the closing of its acquisition of PWI Holdings, Inc.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ovid Therapeutics Inc. OVID 55.49% shares tumbled 55% to $2.9650 after the company announced topline results from the Phase 3 NEPTUNE study of OV101 for the treatment of Angelman syndrome, showing the study did not meet the primary endpoint of change in overall score on the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement-Angelman syndrome. Citigroup downgraded Ovid Therapeutics from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from$10 to $4.

Shares of Auris Medical Holding Ltd. EARS 34.16% were down 35% to $3.41 after the company priced an $8 million offering at $4 per share.

ReneSola Ltd SOL 21.46% was down, falling 21% to $6.24 after the company reported downbeat quarterly sales..

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $45.29, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,831.70.

Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $24.095 while copper rose 0.1% to $3.4905.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.05%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.98%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.58%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.52%, French CAC 40 rose 0.02% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.23%.

Retail sales in Germany climbed 2.6% in October versus a revised 1.9% decline in September.

Economics

US private sector created 307,000 jobs in November, the ADP reported. However, analysts were expecting an addition of 410,000 jobs.

US crude-oil inventories declined 700,000 barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its latest Beige Book report.