Benzinga | Oct 20, 2020 02:34PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 1%; Aptinyx Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1% to 28,476.42 while the NASDAQ rose 1.06% to 11,600.59. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.15% to 3,466.20.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,215,570 cases with around 220,130 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,597,060 confirmed cases and 115,190 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,250,720 COVID-19 cases with 154,170 deaths. In total, there were at least 40,433,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,118,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE:XEC), up 9%, and EnLink Midstream, LLC (NYSE:ENLC), up 8%.

In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its FY21 guidance.

Procter & Gamble reported quarterly earnings of $1.63 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.41 per share. The company posted sales of $19.32 billion, surpassing expectations of $18.35 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBLI) shares shot up 54% to $3.3450 after the company announced a definitive merger agreement to combine its business with Cytocom in an all-stock transaction.

Shares of Aptinyx Inc. (NASDAQ:APTX) got a boost, shooting 24% to $4.5401 after the company announced positive results from the first Phase 2 study of its novel NMDA receptor modulator, NYX-783, in 153 patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOR) shares were also up, gaining 44% to $0.9949 after the company announced it has become entitled to receive a $15 million milestone payment from Biogen.



Equities Trading DOWN

Baudax Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BXRX) shares tumbled 39% to $1.6007 after the company issued commercial and corporate update. The company announced a warrant exercise and exchange, which is expected to result in the issuance of approximately 9.8 million shares of common stock.

Shares of Isoray, Inc. (NYSE:ISR) were down 23% to $0.4396 after the company priced its 18.269 million share common stock offering at $0.52 per unit. Isoray said Monday it terminated a previous Equity Distribution Agreement with Oppenheimer & Co.

Globus Maritime Limited (NASDAQ:GLBS) was down, falling 39% to $0.0791 after the company reported a 1-for-100 stock split, effective October 21st, 2020.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9% to $41.59, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,916.60.

Silver traded up 1.3% Tuesday to $25.020 while copper rose 2.2% to $3.1545.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.35%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.98%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.56%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.92%, French CAC 40 fell 0.27% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.08%.

Eurozone current Account data for August showed a surplus of (euro)19.9 billion. German Producer Price Index rose 0.4% month-over-month in September.

Economics

US Housing starts increased 1.9% to an annual rate of 1.415 million units in September, while building permits increased 5.2% to an annual rate of 1.553 million.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1% during the first two weeks of October versus September.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.