Benzinga - U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones dropping over 600 points on Thursday.
The Dow traded down 1.84% to 32,761.20 while the NASDAQ fell 3% to 10,389. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 2.33% to 3,787.90.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer staples shares fell by just 0.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW), up 3%, and Whole Earth Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: FREE), up 3%.
In trading on Thursday, information technology shares dipped by 3.7%.
Top Headline
The US economy expanded an annualized 3.2% on quarter in the third quarter, up from 2.9% in the second estimate.
Equities Trading UP
- ProQR Therapeutics N.V. (NASDAQ: PRQR) shares shot up 81% to $2.9801 after the company, along with Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), announced the expansion of their licensing and collaboration agreement of new genetic medicines. ProQR will receive an upfront payment of $75 million, plus an equity investment.
- Shares of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIC) got a boost, shooting 55% to $4.66 after the company announced it has entered into a clinical development collaboration for a potential Phase 2 study of ORIC-533 in multiple myeloma with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and agreed to sell about 5.38 million of its common shares at a price of $4.65 per share to Pfizer for proceeds of approximately $25 million.
- IsoPlexis Corporation (NASDAQ: ISO) shares were also up, gaining 129% to $1.58. Berkeley Lights announced plans to acquire IsoPlexis in all-stock transaction at $57.8 million.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVLV) shares tumbled 26% to $2.0250. Evolv Technology announced $75 million in non-dilutive debt financing with Silicon Valley Bank.
- Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AMC) were down 15% to $4.4799 after the company announced a $110 million equity capital raise. The company also announced a proposed vote to convert its preferred equity units into common shares and implement a reverse stock split.
- Ever-Glory International Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVK) was down, falling 36% to $0.3490. Ever-Glory announced voluntary delisting from the Nasdaq Global Market.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $77.88 while gold traded down 1.2% at $1,803.20.
Silver traded down 1.7% to $23.785 on Thursday while copper fell 1.3% to $3.7615.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.97%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.37% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.36%. The German DAX dipped 1.30%, French CAC 40 fell 0.95% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.24%.
Industrial producer prices in Italy increased 29.4% year-over-year in November. Business investment in the UK dropped by 2.5% on quarter during the third quarter. The British economy grew by 1.9% year-over-year in the third quarter, while current account deficit narrowed to GBP 19.4 billion in the quarter.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with the Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.46% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 2.71%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.46%.
The index of coincident economic indicators in Japan fell to 99.6 in October from 100.8 in the previous month, while index of leading economic indicators rose to 98.6 in October from 98.2 in September.
Economics
- US jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 216,000 in the week ending December 17, compared to market estimates of 220,000.
- The US economy expanded an annualized 3.2% on quarter in the third quarter, up from 2.9% in the second estimate.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 102,048,470 cases with around 1,114,930 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,677,590 cases and 530,680 deaths, while France reported over 39,025,730 COVID-19 cases with 160,870 deaths. In total, there were at least 659,881,370 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,678,920 deaths.
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