Mid-day market update: Nasdaq rises 50 points; MeiraGTx shares plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.45% to 29,305.90 while the NASDAQ rose 0.45% to 11,854.51. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 3,560.41.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 11,529,810 cases with around 250,540 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,958,480 confirmed cases and 131,570 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,945,840 COVID-19 cases with 167,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 56,341,230 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,351,230 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 0.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nuance Communications, Inc. NUAN 17.47%, up 16%, and CleanSpark, Inc. CLSK 9.52%, up 10%.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

Macy's, Inc. M 0.61% reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Macy's posted quarterly loss of $0.19 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for a loss of $0.79 per share. The company posted quarterly sales of $3.99 billion, surpassing expectations of $3.86 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. APVO 27.82% shares shot up 29% to $45.48 after Tang Capital Partners reported a 42.5% stake in the company.

Shares of Medigus Ltd. MDGS 19.29% got a boost, shooting 17% to $2.36 after the company signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the founders of EMuze to enter into the electric vehicle and electric charging markets.

Phoenix New Media Limited FENG 41.35% shares were also up, gaining 44% to $2.22 after the company announced a special cash dividend of $1.3712 per ADS.

Equities Trading DOWN

Legacy Acquisition Corp. LGC 19.1% shares tumbled 18% to $8.35. Legacy Acquisition announced preliminary results of cash tender offer for its class a common stock.

Shares of Ebang International Holdings Inc. EBON 25.62% were down 26% to $5.36 after the company announced pricing of follow-on public offering.

MeiraGTx Holdings plc MGTX 12.05% was down, falling 11% to $12.72 after the company priced its 5 million shares common stock offering at $12.85 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $41.53, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,858.60.

Silver traded down 2% Thursday to $23.955 while copper rose 0.2% to $3.2045.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.77%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.58%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.41%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.87%, French CAC 40 fell 0.76% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.81%.

The Eurozone construction output fell 2.5% year-over-year in September versus a revised 0.4% rise in the previous month, while current account surplus shrank to EUR 33.5 billion in September from EUR 38.3 billion.

Economics

US initial jobless claims increased to 742,000 in the week ended November 14, versus a revised reading of 711,000 in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to 26.30 for November, versus prior reading of 32.30.

US existing home sales climbed 4.3% to 6.85 million units in October.

The index of leading economic indicators increased 0.7% for October.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.