Benzinga | Nov 23, 2020 02:35PM EST

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges 250 Points; Bellerophon Therapeutics Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.89% to 29,522.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.08% to 11,864.80. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.37% to 3,570.63.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 12,249,520 cases with around 256,790 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 9,139,860 confirmed cases and 133,730 deaths, while Brazil reported over 6,071400 COVID-19 cases with 169,180 deaths. In total, there were at least 58,751,190 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,389,240 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 5.2% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG), up 22%, and Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ:GEVO), up 37%.

In trading on Monday, health care shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine prevented 70% of the inoculated trial participants from developing COVID-19, early analysis of trial data indicates.

The results were based on data gathered from two different dosing regimens. One dosing regimen, given to 2,700 volunteers, showed 90% efficacy while another administered to 9,000 people had 62% efficacy.

When volunteers were given half a dose of the vaccine prior to a full dose a month later, the best results emerged.



Equities Trading UP

DPW Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DPW) shares shot up 174% to $5.84 after the company said it would work with fast food restaurants to install EV chargers.

Shares of Front Yard Residential Corporation (NYSE:RESI) got a boost, shooting 22% to $16.37 after the company agreed to be acquired for $16.25 per share.

Greenland Technologies Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:GTEC) shares were also up, gaining 47% to $6.89 after the company reported Q3 earnings results.



Equities Trading DOWN

Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLPH) shares tumbled 18% to $7.21 after the company announced it put a clinical hold on its COViNOX Study of ONOpulse for the treatment of COVID-19.

Shares of Montrose Environmental Group, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) were down 15% to $28.75 after the company filed for offering of 4.9 million shares of common stock by selling stockholders.

Niu Technologies (NASDAQ:NIU) was down, falling 11% to $31.89 after reporting Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $42.90, while gold traded down 1.9% to $1,836.60.

Silver traded down 3.1% Monday to $23.615 while copper fell 0.9% to $3.2620.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.04%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.02%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.08%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.07% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.28%.

The Eurozone manufacturing PMI declined to 53.6 in November versus 54.8 in the earlier month, while services PMI tumbled to a six-month low of 41.3.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.83 in October versus a revised reading of 0.32 in September.

The IHS Markit composite PMI climbed to 57.9 in November versus 56.3 in the prior month.