Benzinga | Dec 15, 2020 10:23AM EST

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Eli Lilly To Acquire Prevail Therapeutics

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.36% to 29,968.46 while the NASDAQ rose 0.73% to 12,531.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.60% to 3,669.48.

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

Materials shares climbed 1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY), up 7%, and International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (NYSE:THM), up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares rose by just 0.04%.

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 83% to $22.92 after the company agreed to be acquired by Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY).

Shares of OncoCyte Corporation (NYSE:OCX) got a boost, shooting 39% to $2.95. 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.

Solid Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDB) shares were also up, gaining 28% to $6.15. Solid Biosciences, last week, announced a $90 million private placement of 24.3 million shares at $3.70 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apartment Investment and Management Company (NYSE:AIV) shares tumbled 86% to $5.82 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 $4.30 after the company reported results for the third quarter.

Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIRM) was down, falling 21% to $18.93 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 0.8% to $47.36, while gold traded up 1.3% to $1,855.80.

Silver traded up 2.4% Tuesday to $24.625 while copper rose 0.1% to $3.5275.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.27%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.8%, French CAC 40 rose 0.1% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.6%.

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.