Benzinga | Oct 19, 2020 02:37PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 250 Points; BioSpecifics Technologies Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.90% to 28348.53 while the NASDAQ fell 0.92% to 11564.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.02% to 3,448.26.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,155,590 cases with around 219,670 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,550,270 confirmed cases and 114,610 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,224,360 COVID-19 cases with 153,670 deaths. In total, there were at least 40,076,180 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,113,960 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares slipped by just 0.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Trinseo S.A. (NYSE:TSE), up 11%, and Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC), up 10%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares tumbled 0.8%.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed view.

Halliburton reported quarterly earnings of $0.11 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.08 per share. The company posted sales of $2.98 billion, missing expectations of $3.09 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Kaixin Auto Holdings (NASDAQ:KXIN) shares shot up 281% to $7.88 after climbing over 55% on Friday. JP Morgan, last week, upgraded the company's stock from Neutral to Overweight.

Shares of BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:BSTC) got a boost, shooting 44% to $88.17 after the company agreed be acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals for $88.50 per share in cash.

Front Yard Residential Corporation (NYSE:RESI) shares were also up, gaining 35% to $13.49 after the company agreed be acquired for $13.50 per share in cash..



Equities Trading DOWN

Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:AXAS) shares tumbled 25% to $2.1801 following effectiveness of 1-for-20 reverse split.

Shares of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AERI) were down 13% to $10.12 after Bank of America downgraded the stock from Neutral to Underperform and announced a price target of $9 per share.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (NYSE:AEL) was down, falling 18% to $26.62 after the company rejected an acquisition offer from Athene Holding and instead announced Brookfield Asset Management would acquire a 20% stake in the company at $37 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $40.97, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,913.50.

Silver traded up 1.4% Monday to $24.755 while copper rose 0.7% to $3.0895.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.28%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.15%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 0.08%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.42%, French CAC 40 fell 0.13% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.59%.

Eurozone construction output declined the least in six months, falling just 0.9% year-over-year in August.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index rose to 85 in October versus 83 in September.