Benzinga | Dec 24, 2020 12:11PM EST

Mid-Day Market Update: SIFCO Industries Surges After Q4 Earnings; Future FinTech Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 30,131.51 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 12,777.18. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07% to 3,692.76.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 18,466,220 cases with around 326,230 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,123,770 confirmed cases and 146,750 deaths, while Brazil reported over 7,365,510 COVID-19 cases with 189,220 deaths. In total, there were at least 78,810,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,732,830 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVCT), up 19%, and GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH), up 8%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

The Chinese government is investigating Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) for anti-monopolistic behavior.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation confirmed it started looking into Aliba's operations. Specifically, Alibaba dictates that merchants must work either exclusively on its platform or on a rival -- but not on both.

Coinciding with the antitrust probe, Chinese officials are also meeting with Alibaba's payment affiliate Ant to supervise issues related to how the company operates in a market-oriented way, according to CNBC.



Equities Trading UP

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SENS) shares shot up 51% to $0.9753 after the company lifted its sales guidance for the fourth quarter. The company said it now expects Q4 net sales of $3.5 million, versus prior forecast of $2.5 million..

Shares of Air T, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRT) got a boost, shooting 194% to $28.66 after the company announced plans to form a new aircraft equity vehicle. Air T will form a new aircraft asset management business to be called Contrail Aircraft Management, and a new aircraft capital joint venture to be called Contrail Fund II.

SIFCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:SIF) shares were also up, gaining 40% to $5.45 after the company reported a strong rise in its earnings for the fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Staffing 360 Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:STAF) shares tumbled 25% to $0.6378 after the company reported pricing of $2.5 million public offering of common stock.

Shares of Future FinTech Group Inc. (NASDAQ:FTFT) were down 18% to $1.86 after reporting an $8 million registered direct offering.

Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAGX) was down, falling 34% to $0.7096. Jaguar Health shares jumped 170% on Wednesday after the company signed an agreement with a secured lender involving the $6 million sale of royalty interest in Mytesi royalties.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $47.88, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,881.80.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $25.905 while copper fell 0.1% to $3.5540.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today on prospects of Britain and the EU reaching a Brexit trade deal. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

Economics

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.