Benzinga | Dec 7, 2020 10:10AM EST

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Mostly Lower; Seacor Holdings To Go Private

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.58% to 30,043.55 while the NASDAQ rose 0.45% to 12,520.50. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.14% to 3,693.98.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 14,761,570 cases with around 282,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,677,200 confirmed cases and 140,570 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,603,540 COVID-19 cases with 176,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 67,170,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,537,780 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:KODK), up 69%, and Micro Focus International plc (NYSE:MFGP), up 10%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 2.6%.

Top Headline

SEACOR Holdings (NYSE:CKH) agreed to be acquired by private equity firm American Industrial partners in an all-cash deal value at around $1 billion, including net debt.

AIP will commence a tender offer to acquire all SEACOR's outstanding shares at $41.50 per share.



Equities Trading UP

Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:KODK) shares shot up 73% to $13.05. There was no wrongdoing involved in the process of Eastman Kodak receiving a $765 million federal loan for its pharmaceuticals foray, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. concluded.

Shares of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCT) got a boost, shooting 64% to $4.3519 after the company disclosed updated interim clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 CIRLL clinical trial.

Greenland Technologies Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:GTEC) shares were also up, gaining 50% to $8.33 after the company announced it launched an electric vehicle division.



Equities Trading DOWN

Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) shares tumbled 29% to $4.32 after the company issued highlights from the ASH and corporate update event.

Shares of scPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SCPH) were down 31% to $6.05 after the company received Complete Response Letter from the FDA for FUROSCIX. The company said, 'In the CRL, the FDA cited their need to conduct pre-approval inspections at two of the company's third-party manufacturing facilities that could not be conducted due to travel restrictions.'

Lyra Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYRA) was down, falling 29% to $8.91 after the company said its topline results for LANTERN phase 2 in a randomized controlled study of its LYR-210 for the treatment of Chronic Rhinosinusitis did not reach its primary endpoint.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $45.75, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,834.20.

Silver traded down 1.6% Monday to $23.875 while copper fell 0.8% to $3.4955.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 0.2%, French CAC 40 fell 0.7% and London's FTSE 100 gained 0.8%.

The UK's house price index grew 7.6% year-over-year in November, while German industrial production rose 3.2% in October.



Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Investor Movement Index for November will be released at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for October will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Analysts project consumer credit to increase $17.0 billion in October following September's $16.2 billion rise.