Benzinga | Dec 28, 2021 02:39PM EST

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Down 0.5%; Flotek Industries Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.26% to 36,396.21 while the NASDAQ fell 0.52% to 15,789.51. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12% to 4,785.52.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 53,791,850 cases with around 839,600 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,799,690 cases and 480,290 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,246,270 COVID-19 cases with 618,570 deaths. In total, there were at least 281,959,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,425,280 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.8% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pampa Energ?a S.A. (NYSE:PAM), up 5% and Cadiz Inc. (NASDAQ:CDZI) up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

Digital Turbine Inc (NASDAQ:APPS) forged a multi-year strategic partnership with Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. The financial terms were not disclosed

Equities Trading UP

Insignia Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISIG) shares shot up 75% to $20.17 as traders circulated a social media post on a potential short squeeze.

Shares of Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE:FTK) got a boost, shooting 54% to $0.8621 after the company announced it received an unsolicited indication of interest for a potential transaction for all or part of the company. Flotek's Board of Directors has engaged Piper Sandler & Co.

ADDvantage Technologies Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEY) shares were also up, gaining 15% to $2.1101. ADDvantage Technologies reported earnings of $0.05 per share for the fourth quarter, versus a year-ago loss of $0.09 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBTS) shares tumbled 30% to $0.6498 after jumping 62% on Monday.

Shares of Baudax Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BXRX) were down 25% to $0.2396 after the company announced a $4.2 million registered direct offering.

Nxt-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTD) was down, falling 14% to $4.0793 after climbing around 18% on Monday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $76.05, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,811.60.

Silver traded up 0.7% Tuesday to $23.16 while copper fell 0.6% to $4.4445.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.62%, the Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.77% and the German DAX 40 gained 0.81%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 climbed 0.57% and Italy's FTSE MIB gained 0.78%.

Spain's retail trade climbed 4.9% year-over-year in November.

Economics

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index surged 18.4% year-over-year in October.

The FHFA's house price index rose 1.1% from a month ago in October.

Check out the full economic calendar here