Mid-afternoon market update: Dow falls 200 points, Connect Biopharma shares tumble

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.58% to 35,664.58 while the NASDAQ rose 0.53% to 16,078.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 4,706.69.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 48,398,450 cases with around 789,150 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,489,620 cases and 465,080 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,989,960 COVID-19 cases with 612,170 deaths. In total, there were at least 256,532,940 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,151,120 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares gained by 0.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included AvidXchange Holdings, Inc. AVDX +15.35% (Get Free Alerts for AVDX), up 13% and Usio, Inc. USIO +14.56% (Get Free Alerts for USIO) up 11%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 3.8%.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL -12.17% reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Foot Locker posted quarterly earnings of $1.93 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.37 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $2.19 billion, versus expectations of $2.12 billion. Third quarter comparable-store sales rose 2.2%.

Andrew Page, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer said “we expect global supply chain constraints to persist throughout the fourth quarter; that said, we believe we are positioned for the holiday season, with positive momentum and inventory levels ready to meet customer demand.”

Equities Trading UP

Greenland Technologies Holding Corporation GTEC +65.71% shares shot up 67% to $8.66. Greenland Technologies highlighted the launch of second electric industrial vehicle line: GEL-1800 Front Loader.

Shares of Longeveron Inc. LGVN +49.49% got a boost, shooting 36% to $9.34 on continued upward momentum after the company announced the FDA granted Rare Pediatric Disease designation for Lomecel-B for the treatment of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

UWM Holdings Corporation UWMC +16.67% shares were also up, gaining 19% to $6.59 after the company announced it will accelerate its buyback plan "in lieu of previously announced secondary offering and concurrent stock repurchase."

Equities Trading DOWN

Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited CNTB -55.49% shares tumbled 55% to $5.46 after the company reported topline results from the Phase 2 trial of CBP-201 administered subcutaneously (SC) to adult patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD). The data showed that the trial met its primary efficacy endpoint, with statistically significant improvements in the disease severity index score from baseline to Week 16.

Shares of Flora Growth Corp. FLGC -37.77% were down 37% to $2.31 after the company reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 10 million units, with each being sold at $3 per unit.

RedHill Biopharma Ltd. RDHL -25.52% was down, falling 24% to $2.9350.
RedHill Biopharma priced its 4.7 million ADS offering for gross proceeds of $15.5 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.8% to $76.00, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,849.80.

Silver traded down 0.6% Friday to $24.75 while copper rose 2.2% to $4.3995.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.33%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.68% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.38%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.45%, French CAC 40 fell 0.42% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 1.17%.

Italy’s current account surplus shrank to EUR 4.681 billion in September from EUR 8.059 billion in the year-ago month, while construction output increased 10.5% year-over-year in September. The Eurozone current account surplus shrank to EUR 26.9 billion in September from EUR 37.8 billion a year ago. Retail sales in the UK rose 0.8% in October, while German producer prices jumped by 18.4% from a year ago in October. The unemployment rate in France fell to 8.1% in the third quarter.

Economics

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 7 to 461 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.