Mid-day market update: Live Ventures jumps after Q4 earnings; Provention Bio shares plunge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08% to 31,044.07 while the NASDAQ rose 0.43% to 13,129.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11% to 3,805.26.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 22,848,700 cases with around 380,820 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,495,140 confirmed cases and 151,520 deaths, while Brazil reported over 8,195,630 COVID-19 cases with 204,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 91,691,960 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,964,760 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares gained by 1.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Just Energy Group Inc. JE 2.16%, up 3%, and Duke Energy Corporation DUK 3.26%, up 3%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

IHS Markit Ltd INFO 1.06% reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.

IHS Markit reported quarterly earnings of $0.72 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $0.67 per share. The company posted sales of $1.11 billion, versus estimates of $1.11 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Live Ventures Incorporated LIVE 89.94% shares shot up 85% to $23.17 after the company swung to a profit in the fourth quarter.

Shares of Motorsport Games Inc. NASDAQMSGM got a boost, shooting 73% to $34.50 after the company priced its IPO at $20 per share.

GameStop Corp. GME 53.46% shares were also up, gaining 56% to $31.20 following the recent addition of new board members, including from Chewy. Baird analyst Wednesday said new board configuration could suggest company is accelerating its digital transformation plan.

Equities Trading DOWN

Harbor Custom Development, Inc. HCDI 12.82% shares tumbled 13% to $3.05 after the company priced its public offering of 8,000,000 shares of its common stock at $3.00 per share.

Shares of Party City Holdco Inc. PRTY 9.1% were down 11% to $7.22 after the company issued weak Q4 sales guidance.

Provention Bio, Inc. PRVB 10.64% was down, falling 13% to $16.83 as the company said it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 6 million shares of its common stock. All of the shares to be sold in the offering are to be sold by the company.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $53.01, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,857.80.

Silver traded up 0.5% Wednesday to $25.565 while copper rose 0.6% to $3.6265.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.11%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.18% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.11%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.21%, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.13% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.43%. German wholesale prices fell 1.2% year-over-year in December.

Economics

Annual inflation rate rose to 1.4% in December from 1.2 percent in November.

US crude oil inventories fell by 3.247 million barrels in the week ended January 8, 2021, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury’s budget statement for December will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here