Benzinga | Oct 20, 2020 12:12PM EDT

Mid-Day Market Update: Cleveland BioLabs Jumps On Merger News; Isoray Shares Slide

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.42% to 28313.84 while the NASDAQ rose 0.26% to 11508.37. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.45% to 3442.37.

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

Financial shares climbed 1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included X Financial (NYSE:XYF), up 24%, and Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT), up 11%.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares rose by just 0.02%.

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 79% to $3.88 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 43% to $5.25 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 41% to $0.9713 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 38% to $1.65 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 21% to $0.4499 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 36% to $0.0828 after the company reported a 1-for-100 stock split, effective October 21st, 2020.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $40.58, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,913.40.

Silver traded up 0.9% Tuesday to $24.925 while copper rose 2.3% to $3.1575.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.02%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.62%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.99%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.36%, French CAC 40 rose 0.25% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.51%.

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 Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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.