Benzinga | Nov 13, 2020 12:02PM EST

Mid-Day Market Update: Gold Rises 1%; Cassava Sciences Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.81% to 29,315.09 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 11,749.17. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.69% to 3,561.36.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 10,555,430 cases with around 242,430 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 8,728,790 confirmed cases and 128,660 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,781,580 COVID-19 cases with 164,280 deaths. In total, there were at least 52,850,540 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,295,180 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tellurian Inc. (NASDAQ:TELL), up 9%, and Flex LNG Ltd. (NYSE:FLNG), up 7%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares rose by just by 0.1%.

Top Headline

Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter, while sales also exceeded estimates.

Disney posted quarterly loss of $0.20 per share, versus analysts' expectations for a loss of $0.71 per share. The company reported sales of $14.71 billion, surpassing estimates of $14.20 billion.



Equities Trading UP

Urovant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:UROV) shares shot up 94% to $16.05 after the company late Thursday announced Sumitovant Biopharma will acquire the remaining stake in the company for $16.25 per share.

Shares of CBAK Energy Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAT) got a boost, shooting 41% to $5.60 after climbing 14% on Thursday.

Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. (NASDAQ:SOLO) shares were also up, gaining 39% to $6.73 following a 28%surge on Thursday. The company recently reported Q3 results..



Equities Trading DOWN

TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:TOMZ) shares tumbled 26% to $4.95 after the company reported Q3 earnings results..

Shares of Cassava Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAVA) were down 26% to $8.24 after the company priced a $75 million share offering at $8 per share..

Shift Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ:SFT) was down, falling 28% to $7.14 after the company reported a wider Q3 loss.



Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $40.37, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,892.90.

Silver traded up 1.9% Friday to $24.760 while copper rose 0.9% to $3.1740.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.17%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.95%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.65%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.4%, French CAC 40 gained 0.57% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.26%.

Wholesale prices in Germany declined 1.9% year-over-year in October versus a 1.8% drop in September. Spain's consumer prices fell 0.8% year-over-year in October.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.3% in October.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 77 in November versus 81.8 in October.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.