Mid-afternoon market update: Nasdaq down 1%, Protagonist Therapeutics shares plummet

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.47% to 4,587.22 while the NASDAQ fell 1.05% to 15,023.11. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.85% to 4,435.65.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 41,788,110 cases with around 670,020 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,381,720 cases and 444,240 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,069,010 COVID-19 cases with 589,240 deaths. In total, there were at least 227,118,470 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,671,540 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares slipped by just 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Innate Pharma S.A. IPHA +undefined% (Get Free Alerts for IPHA), up 47% and Larimar Therapeutics, Inc. LRMR +undefined% (Get Free Alerts for LRMR) up 19%.

In trading on Friday, materials shares tumbled 2%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 71 in September from a decade-low reading of 70.3 in August. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 72.

Equities Trading UP

Helbiz, Inc. HLBZ +undefined% shares shot up 137% to $21.30 after the company announced its media unit has entered into an agreement with FOX Networks to broadcast the Italian Serie B championship across the USA and the Caribbean.

Shares of Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CRVS +undefined% got a boost, shooting 104% to $4.62 on abnormally high volume. The stock might be trading higher following favorable data results by AstraZeneca for patients with unresectable, stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer.

Innate Pharma S.A. IPHA +undefined% (Get Free Alerts for IPHA) shares were also up, gaining 47% to $8.43 as its partner AstraZeneca Plc AZN +1.57% presented results from the COAST Phase 2 trial during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO21) Congress 2021. SVB Leerink maintained Innate Pharma with an Outperform and raised the price target from $7 to $9.

Equities Trading DOWN

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. PTGX +62.48% shares tumbled 63% to $17.30 after the company reported the FDA placed a clinical hold on rusfertide development program.

Shares of TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. TCRR +35.21% were down 35% to $10.24 after the company announced interim results from an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of gavo-cel for the treatment of refractory mesothelin-expressing solid tumors.

IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc. IRNT +27.71% was down, falling 27% to $30.06. IronNet shares climbed over 28% on Thursday amid increased retail investor interest in the stock on social media.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $72.05, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,753.20.

Silver traded down 1.7% Friday to $22.415 while copper fell 0.8% to $4.2490.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.88%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.31% and the German DAX 30 dropped 1.03%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.91%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.79% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.98%.

The Eurozone annual inflation rate was confirmed at 3.0% for August, while construction output increased 3.3% year-over-year in July. The Eurozone current account surplus increased to EUR 30.2 billion in July from EUR 26.1 billion in the year-ago period. Retail sales volumes in the UK fell 0.9% in August.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 71 in September from a decade-low reading of 70.3 in August. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 72.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 10 to 411 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.