Mid-day market update: Nasdaq dips 300 points, Apria shares surge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.23% to 35,787.07 while the NASDAQ fell 2.07% to 14,627.21. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.52% to 4,605.95.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 61,263,030 cases with around 859,350 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 35,708,440 cases and 483,930 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,523,900 COVID-19 cases with 620,030 deaths. In total, there were at least 308,004,270 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,507,340 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell by just 0.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Xcel Energy Inc. XEL +1.39% (Get Free Alerts for XEL), up 1.4% and ALLETE, Inc. ALE +0.45% (Get Free Alerts for ALE) up 1.1%.

In trading on Monday, consumer discretionary shares dipped by 2.9%.

Top Headline

AZZ Inc AZZ -1.98% reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter on Monday.

AZZ posted quarterly earnings of $0.85 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.82 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $231.74 million, versus expectations of $238.63 million.

AZZ reaffirmed FY22 sales guidance of $865 million to $925 million. The company said it sees FY22 EPS of $3.00 to $3.20.

Equities Trading UP

Molecular Partners AG MOLN +24.5% shares shot up 21% to $19.98 after the company, and Novartis, reported topline data from the Phase 2 study for ensovibep, a DARPin antiviral therapeutic for COVID-19.

Shares of Zynga Inc. ZNGA +40.5% got a boost, shooting 45% to $8.69 after the company announced it will be acquired by Take-Two Interactive Software in a cash and stock transaction valued at $9.86 per Zynga share, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $12.7 billion.

Apria, Inc. APR +25.91% shares were also up, gaining 26% to $37.40. Owens & Minor agreed to acquire Apria for $37.50 in cash per share of common stock, representing an equity value of approximately $1.45 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Citi Trends, Inc. CTRN -17.09% shares tumbled 16% to $68.00. Citi Trends reported 2021 holiday sales results and updated long-term strategic plan.

Shares of Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. FOLD -23.84% were down 22% to $8.91 after the company issued its preliminary and unaudited 2021 revenue, and full-year 2022 outlook and revenue guidance. Amicus Therapeutics said it sees FY21 Galafold sales of $306 million.

Rapid Micro Biosystems, Inc. RPID -25.05% was down, falling 25% to $6.81. Rapid Micro Biosystems said it expects Q4 total revenue of between $4.7 and $5.2 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $78.64, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,792.50.

Silver traded down 0.1% Monday to $22.385 while copper fell 1.5% to $4.3455.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.68%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.79%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.75%. The German DAX dropped 1.34%, French CAC 40 declined 1.53% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.19%.

The unemployment rate in Italy dropped to 9.2% in November from 9.4% in the prior month.

Economics

US wholesale inventories rose 1.3% for November, versus analysts’ expectations for a 1.2% increase.