Mid-Day Market Update: Sol-Gel Surges Following Positive Acne-Study Data; Wave Life Sciences Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.64% to 28462.54 while the NASDAQ fell 0.90% to 8925.19. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.64% to 3,219.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included McDermott International Inc MDR, up 13%, and Valaris PLC VAL, up 10%.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

Nio Inc – ADR NIO reported strong third-quarter results and issued upbeat guidance Monday.

The company posted revenue of 1,836.8 million yuan ($257 million), a 25% year-over-year increase. The top-line results exceeded the $230.08-million consensus estimate.

A third-quarter non-GAAP loss of 33 cents per share beat the consensus estimate by a penny. Originally, the FDA had set a PDUFA action date of Oct. 14, which was extended by three months.

Equities Trading UP

Sol Gel Technologies Ltd SLGL shares shot up 94% to $17.91. The top-line results from two pivotal Phase 3 trials for Twyneo showed statistically significant improvement on all co-primary endpoints in the treatment of patients with acne vulgaris, Sol-Gel said.

Shares of Nio Inc - ADR NIO got a boost, shooting up 41% to $3.41 after the company reported strong third-quarter results and issued upbeat guidance.

Savara Inc. SVRA shares were also up, gaining 100% to $3.4516 after the company was granted FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for Molgradex for the treatment of autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

Equities Trading DOWN

Wave Life Sciences Ltd WVE shares tumbled 50% to $7.94 after reporting topline data and addition of higher dose cohort in ongoing Phase 1b/2a PRECISION-HD2 trial in Huntington’s disease.

Shares of Pintec Technology Holdings Limited PT were down 18% to $1.75 after climbing 66.4% on Friday.

Rite Aid Corporation RAD was down, falling 17% to $16.84 after gaining 5.78% on Friday.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $61.96, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,516.40.

Silver traded up 0.1% Monday to $17.965, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.824.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.69%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.77%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.84%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.66%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.74% while UK shares fell 0.55%.

Economics

The US trade deficit on goods shrank to $63.19 billion in November, compared to $66.8 billion in the prior month.

U.S. wholesale inventories were unchanged in November 2019, versus economists’ expectations of a 0.3% rise.

The pending sales index rose 1.2% for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.2% gain.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index fell to a reading of -3.2 in December, versus -1.3 in the prior month.

The Treasury will auction 52-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.