Benzinga | Feb 1, 2021 12:10PM EST

Mid-Day Market Update: Silver Surges 7%; Concert Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.73% to 30,202.28 while the NASDAQ rose 2.16% to 13,352.59. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.4% to 3,766.38.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 26,188,080 cases with around 441,330 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,757,610 confirmed cases and 154,390 deaths, while Brazil reported over 9,204,730 COVID-19 cases with 224,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 103,034,950 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,229,560 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 2.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Alithya Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ALYA), up 33%, and Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ:API), up 24%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Thermo Fisher Scientific reported quarterly earnings of $7.09 per share, missing analysts' expectations of $6.56 per share. The company posted revenue of $10.55 billion, versus estimates of $9.58 billion.



Equities Trading UP

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) shares shot up 39% to $17.69 after surging 16% on Friday.

Shares of Viela Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIE) got a boost, shooting 53% to $52.94 after the company agreed to be acquired by Horizon Therapeutics for $53 per share in cash.

Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ:API) shares were also up, gaining 24% to $70.21. Agora has raised $250 million via private placement by issuing new Class A ordinary shares representing 4.5% of its total float.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNCE) shares tumbled 33% to $7.01 after the company announced that its CTP-692 Phase 2 trial did not achieve its primary endpoint assessing positive and negative syndrome scale total score at 12 weeks.

Shares of Koss Corporation (NASDAQ:KOSS) were down 39% to $39.00.

New Concept Energy, Inc. (NYSE:GBR) was down, falling 29% to $7.89 after jumping 959% on Thursday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $53.11, while gold traded up 0.8% to $1,865.80.

Silver traded up 7.1% Monday to $28.83 while copper fell 0.5% to $3.5395.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 1.24%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.52% and the German DAX 30 gained 1.41%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 1.16%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.92% and Italy's FTSE MIB surged 1.17%.

The Eurozone unemployment rate remained at 8.3% in December, while manufacturing PMI climbed to 54.8 in January from a preliminary reading of 54.7. UK manufacturing PMI rose to 54.1 in January from a preliminary reading of 52.9, while retail sales in Germany dropped 9.6% in December.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 59.2 in January from preliminary estimate of 59.1.

The ISM manufacturing PMI declined to 58.7 in January from 60.5 in December.

US construction spending rose 1% for December.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 3:10 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here