Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Surges 140 Points; MediciNova Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.19% to 26520.77 while the NASDAQ rose 1.35% to 10,503.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.56% to 3,233.73.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 4,234,140 cases with around 146,930 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 2,419,090 COVID-19 cases with 87,000 deaths, while India reported a total of at least 1,435,610 confirmed cases and 32,770 deaths. In total, there were at least 16,264,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 648,960 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sierra Wireless, Inc. SWIR, up 20%, and United Microelectronics Corporation UMC, up 16%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

RPM International Inc. RPM reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

RPM International posted quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.01 per share. The company reported sales of $1.46 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.40 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Sogou Inc. SOGO shares shot up 49% to $8.55 after the company received a preliminary non-binding acquisition offer from Tencent at $9 per share in cash.

Shares of MediciNova, Inc. MNOV got a boost, shooting 100% to $11.27 after the company announced an agreement with BioComoor for the joint development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT shares were also up, gaining 71% to $2.49 following news the company launched its DuraSled barcode scanner sled for mobile device protector, XCover Pro.

Equities Trading DOWN

WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. WIMI shares tumbled 36% to $7.21 after the company priced its 7.56 million ADS offering at $8.18 per ADS.

Shares of BioHiTech Global, Inc. BHTG were down 15% to $1.76 as the company reported the pricing of $8.2 million offering at $1.81 per share.

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. DFFN was down, falling 13% to $1.1450 after the company received guidance from the FDA on the company's IND for trans sodium crocetinate in Covid-19 patients.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $41.69, while gold traded up 1.8% to $1,931.90.

Silver traded up 7.1% Monday to $24.46, while copper rose 0.3% to $2.902.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.31%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.28%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.01%, French CAC 40 declined 0.34% and UK shares fell 0.31%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders climbed 7.3% in June after rising 15.1% in May.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index rose to -3.0 in July, versus a reading of -6.1 in the previous month.