Benzinga | Sep 20, 2021 02:33PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles 2.5%; BeyondSpring Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 2.57% to 33,696.98 while the NASDAQ fell 3.14% to 14,572.25. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.58% to 4,318.67.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 42,088,400 cases with around 673,760 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,478,410 cases and 445,130 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,239,780 COVID-19 cases with 590,750 deaths. In total, there were at least 228,595,280 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,692,920 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell 0.6% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP), up 3% and Enel Chile S.A. (NYSE:ENIC) up 3%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares tumbled 3.4%.

Top Headline

Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. has agreed to acquire Brooks Automation Inc's (NASDAQ:BRKS) Semiconductor Solutions Group business in a transaction valued at $3 billion. The transaction is likely to close in the first half of CY22

Equities Trading UP

ZIVO Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIVO) shares shot up 82% to $5.10.

Shares of Edesa Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDSA) got a boost, shooting 79% to $10.54 after the company disclosed Phase 2 data of its monoclonal antibody in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Synlogic, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBX) shares were also up, gaining 12% to $3.70 after the company announced Phase 2 data demonstrating reduction in plasma phenylalanine levels in patients with phenylketonuria.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ:BYSI) shares tumbled 32% to $15.51 after the company shared the final intention-to-treat (ITT) dataset from its DUBLIN-3 Phase 3 trial of plinabulin. The trial evaluated plinabulin combined with docetaxel vs. docetaxel alone for 2nd/3rd line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR wild type.

Shares of Helbiz, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLBZ) were down 18% to $14.42. Helbiz shares jumped around 97% on Friday after the company announced its media unit has entered into an agreement with FOX Networks to broadcast the Italian Serie B championship across the USA and the Caribbean.

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) was down, falling 24% to $13.27. JP Morgan downgraded Protagonist Therapeutics from Overweight to Neutral and announced a $49 price target. The FDA recently placed a clinical hold on the company's rusfertide development program.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.5% to $70.18, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,761.90.

Silver traded down 0.8% Monday to $22.165 while copper fell 3.3% to $4.1070.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.67%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.2% and the German DAX 30 dropped 2.31%. Meanwhile, the London's FTSE 100 fell 0.86%, French CAC 40 declined 1.74% and Italy's FTSE MIB tumbled 2.57%.

German producer prices increased 12.0% year-over-year in August following a 10.4% growth in the prior month. Spanish trade deficit widened to EUR 1.60 billion in July, compared to EUR 0.31 billion in the year-ago month.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index rose to 76 in September from 75 in August.

Check out the full economic calendar here