Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 70 Points; Aerie Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20% to 34,745 while the NASDAQ fell 0.03% to 15,157.61. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 4,471.34.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 41,539,100 cases with around 666,620 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,347,320 cases and 443,920 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,034,610 COVID-19 cases with 588,590 deaths. In total, there were at least 226,445,290 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,661,150 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares gained 0.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tuesday Morning Corporation TUEM, up 29% and Rush Street Interactive, Inc. RSI up 10%.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares tumbled 1.1%.

Top Headline

US retail sales increased 0.7% in August of 2021, following a revised 1.8% decline in July. Analysts were expecting for a 0.8% decline in retail trade.

Equities Trading UP

Leap Therapeutics, Inc. LPTX shares shot up 39% to $2.6750 after the company announced updated data from the first-line cohort of the DisTinGuish Phase 2a trial evaluating DKN-01 combined with BeiGene’s tislelizumab and chemotherapy in gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer (G/GEJ).

Shares of Tuesday Morning Corporation TUEM got a boost, shooting 29% to $2.23 after a SEC filing showed CEO Fred Hand purchased 511,387 shares of the company's common stock at an average price of $1.76.

TMC the metals company Inc. TMC shares were also up, gaining 18% to $11.78 amid increased retail investor interest in the stock on social media.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Silverback Therapeutics, Inc. SBTX shares tumbled 24% to $12.34. The company presented interim clinical results from a Phase 1/1b clinical study of SBT6050 as a monotherapy and in combination with Merck & Co's Keytruda in patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-expressing or amplified solid tumors.

Shares of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AERI were down 25% to $11.84 after the company announced topline results of its Phase 2b COMET-1 study evaluating AR-15512 (TRPM8 Agonist) ophthalmic solution for dry eye disease. The company said that the study failed to achieve statistical significance at pre-determined primary endpoints at Day 28.

MacroGenics, Inc. MGNX was down, falling 26% to $20.46 as the company disclosed results from Cohort A Part 1 of the Phase 2/3 MAHOGANY clinical trial of margetuximab.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $72.41, while gold traded down 2.2% to $1,756.00.

Silver traded down 4.4% Thursday to $22.745 while copper fell 3% to $4.2750.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.44%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.14% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.23%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.16%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.59% and Italy’s FTSE MIB jumped 0.78%.

The Eurozone trade surplus shrank to EUR 20.7 billion in July from EUR 26.8 billion in the year-ago period, while passenger car registrations in the European Union dropped 19.1% year-over-year to 623 thousand units in August. Italy’s trade surplus narrowed to EUR 8.762 billion in July from EUR 9.689 billion in the year-ago month.

Economics

US initial jobless claims increased to 332 thousand in the week ending September 11 versus a reading of 312 thousand in the previous week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index climbed to 30.7 in September from 19.4 in August.

Retail sales increased 0.7% in August of 2021, following a revised 1.8% decline in July.

US business inventories rose 0.5% for July.

US natural-gas supplies surged 83 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Treasury International Capital report for July will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here