Mid-Afternoon Market Update: China Finance Online Falls After Q3 Results; Iterum Therapeutics Shares Gain

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.18% to 28673.17 while the NASDAQ fell 0.12% to 9,011.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04% to 3,241.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rite Aid Corporation RAD, up 11%, and Village Farms International Inc VFF, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Flexion Therapeutics Inc FLXN said the FDA approved its sNDA for a label expansion for Zilretta in osteoarthritis knee pain.

"ZILRETTA is an invaluable non-opioid option for managing chronic OA knee pain, and it is encouraging to see a new product label that better informs clinical decision making," Dr. John Richmond, a clinician, said in a statement.

Originally, the FDA had set a PDUFA action date of Oct. 14, which was extended by three months.



Equities Trading UP

Iterum Therapeutics plc ITRM shares shot up 135% to $5.77 after the company reported the completion of enrollment in Phase 3 trial of oral sulopenem in uncomplicated urinary tract infection.

Shares of Castle Biosciences, Inc. CSTL got a boost, shooting up 20% to $34.40. Canaccord Genuity maintained Castle Biosciences with a Buy and raised the price target from $34 to $35.

Pintec Technology Holdings Limited PT shares were also up, gaining 70% to $2.18 after the company announced an agreement deal with China Unicom to offer next-generation handset financing services to its broad base of subscribers.


Equities Trading DOWN

LAIX Inc. LAIX shares tumbled 16% to $4.8127.

Shares of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTPH were down 16% to $3.04 after climbing 50% on Thursday.

China Finance Online Co. JRJC was down, falling 8% to $0.91 following Q3 results. China Finance Online reported a Q3 loss of $0.09 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.26 per share. Its sales slipped to $8.051 million from $8.614 million.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $61.66, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,517.80.

Silver traded down 0.4% Friday to $17.925, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.8275.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.21%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.59%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.27%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.13% while UK shares rose 0.17%.

Economics

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 161 billion cubic feet for the week ended December 20, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a decline of 150 to 153 billion cubic feet.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 5.4 million barrels for the week ended December 20, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a fall of 3 million barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 2 million barrels, while distillate supplies fell 200,000 barrels

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 8 to 677 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Data on farm prices for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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