Benzinga | Dec 15, 2020 12:26PM EST

Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 1.5%; Apartment Investment and Management Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.38% to 29,974.90 while the NASDAQ rose 0.59% to 12,513.56. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.52% to 3,666.43.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 16,522,120 cases with around 300,720 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,906,160 confirmed cases and 143,700 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,927,140 COVID-19 cases with 181,830 deaths. In total, there were at least 73,011,770 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,624,810 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 1.1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NYSE:NOVA), up 8%, and International Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA), up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) announced a $1 billion deal to acquire Prevail Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PRVL).



Equities Trading UP

Prevail Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PRVL) shares shot up 84% to $22.98 after the company agreed to be acquired by Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY).

Shares of OncoCyte Corporation (NYSE:OCX) got a boost, shooting 34% to $2.85. Burning Rock Biotech announced a licensing agreement with OncoCyte to bring the latter's DetermaRx, a risk stratification test for early stage lung cancer patients, to China.

BioCardia, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCDA) shares were also up, gaining 44% to $6.46. BioCardia reported a 1.789 million share registered direct offering priced at $4.75 per share. The company yesterday said it anticipates data safety monitoring board verbal feedback by the end of Dec. 15 for its pivotal Phase 3 CardiAMP Heart Failure Trial.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apartment Investment and Management Company (NYSE:AIV) shares tumbled 86% to $5.52 after the company announced it completed the separation of its businesses, making Apartment Income REIT a separate, publicly-traded company. The company is also being replaced by Tesla in the S&P 500.

Shares of CooTek (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:CTK) were down 32% to $4.2862 after the company reported results for the third quarter.

Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIRM) was down, falling 20% to $19.23 after the company priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 3.75 million shares of its common stock at $20 per share for raising gross proceeds of $75 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $47.70, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,853.00.

Silver traded up 2.1% Tuesday to $24.56 while copper fell 0.3% to $3.5170.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.06%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.34%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.39%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.82%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.02% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.45%.

London is witnessing rise in infected cases after the discovery of a new variant of coronavirus. Eurozone industrial production increased 2.1% in October, slightly better than expected.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index declined to 4.9 in December versus 6.3 in November.

Prices for US imports rose 0.1% in November, while export prices gained 0.6%.

US industrial production rose 0.4% for November.

The Treasury International Capital report for October is scheduled for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.