Mid-afternoon market update: Nasdaq rises 50 points, Jefferies shares drop

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 36,269.24 while the NASDAQ rose 0.35% to 15,205.90. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.26% to 4,725.52.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 63,390,870 cases with around 863,890 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 36,070,510 cases and 484,650 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,630,140 COVID-19 cases with 620,280 deaths. In total, there were at least 314,292,710 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,522,840 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 0.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ebix, Inc. EBIX +15.26% (Get Free Alerts for EBIX), up 14% and Innodata Inc. INOD +9.47% (Get Free Alerts for INOD) up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7% in December, notching a fresh high since June 1982, and up from 6.8% in the previous month. Analysts, however, were expecting a 7% inflation rate. The CPI rose 0.50% month-over-month during December.

Equities Trading UP

Immix Biopharma, Inc. IMMX +18.42% shares shot up 26% to $6.83 after the company announced preclinical data of its lead program, IMX-110. The data showed that IMX-110 produced a 50% response rate in first-line-therapy-resistant cancer - soft tissue sarcoma (STS) mouse study, surpassing the STS standard of care doxorubicin’s 0% response rate in the same mouse study.

Shares of Fresh Vine Wine, Inc. VINE +19.24% got a boost, shooting 44% to $8.41 after the company reported a partnership with CRAVE American Kitchen & Sushi Bar.

Immuron Limited IMRN +46.18% shares were also up, gaining 43% to $3.65. Immuron received funding of A$6.2 ($4.45) million from the U.S Department of Defense to examine a dosing regimen for Travelan more suited for use by the military.

Equities Trading DOWN

Koninklijke Philips N.V. PHG -14.68% shares tumbled 15% to $32.77 after the company provided an update on its financial performance in Q4 2021. Philips hiked the cost of its recall of ventilators and warned earnings would take a big hit from global supply chain shortages.

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. JEF -9.29% were down 11% to $36.86 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results.

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. ACRS -13.61% was down, falling 14% to $11.04. Providing a R&D update, Aclaris Therapeutics said David Gordon, its chief medical officer left the company, effective Jan. 7. The company also announced update on its two Phase 2 programs that evaluate zunsemetinib in subjects with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and in subjects with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurative.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $82.83, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,824.20.

Silver traded up 1.5% Wednesday to $23.155 while copper rose 3.8% to $4.5990.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.65%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.71%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.16%. The German DAX gained 0.43%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.75% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.65%.

Wholesale price inflation in Germany slowed to 16.1% in December from a record level of 16.6% in the previous month.

Economics

The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7% in December, notching a fresh high since June 1982, and up from 6.8% in the previous month. Analysts, however, were expecting a 7% inflation rate. The CPI rose 0.50% month-over-month during December.

US crude-oil inventories dropped 4.6 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its Beige Book report.