Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps 300 Points; Krystal Biotech Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.87% to 35,204.42 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.96% to 15,795.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.55% to 4,665.67.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 49,099,590 cases with around 799,410 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,580,830 cases and 468,790 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,080,900 COVID-19 cases with 614,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 261,877,540 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,219,770 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares gained by 2.6% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Matterport, Inc MTTR, up 18% and Bit Digital, Inc. BTBT up 11%.

In trading on Monday, financials shares rose by just 0.6%.

Top Headline

Li Auto Inc. LI reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results.

Li Auto reported third-quarter diluted earnings per ADS of 5 cents, which beat the estimate of a loss of 2 cents, and sales results of $1.21 billion, which beat the $1.16 billion estimate.

The company also reported deliveries of Li ONEs were 25,116 vehicles in the third quarter of 2021, representing a 190% year-over-year increase.

Equities Trading UP

Krystal Biotech, Inc. KRYS shares shot up 120% to $87.55 after the company announced positive topline results from the GEM-3 Phase 3 trial of investigational beremagene geperpavec (B-VEC, Vyjuvek) for dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (dystrophic EB).

Shares of Adagio Therapeutics, Inc. ADGI got a boost, shooting 82% to $45.76 after the company said its COVID-19 monoclonal antibody, ADG20, is likely to retain activity against Omicron, as observed in in vitro models with all other variants of concern identified previously. Morgan Stanley upgraded Adagio Therapeutics from Equal-Weight to Overweight and announced a $49 price target.

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRXP shares were also up, gaining 16% to $7.83 after the company announced positive data from its ZYESAMI study.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. FENC shares tumbled 51% to $4.7501 after the company said it expects to receive a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding its marketing application for Pedmark. The FDA indicated that, following a recent inspection of the manufacturing facility of the drug product manufacturer, deficiencies have been identified.

Shares of Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI were down 17% to $6.95 after jumping around 55% on Friday.

Vaxxinity, Inc. VAXX was down, falling 23% to $14.21. Vaxxinity, earlier during the month, priced its IPO at $13 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.9% to $70.79, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,782.80.

Silver traded down 1.3% Monday to $22.815 while copper rose 1.2% to $4.3430.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.69%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.62% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.16%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.94%, French CAC 40 gained 0.54% and Italy’s FTSE MIB climbed 0.73%.

Spain's annual inflation rate increased to 5.6% in November from 5.4% in the prior month. Producer prices in Italy jumped 20.4% year-over-year in October. Consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 0.706 billion in October, while number of mortgage approvals for house purchase declined to 67.2 thousand in October.

Economics

The pending home sales index surged 7.5% for October, versus analysts’ expectations for a 0.9% growth.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index dropped slightly to 11.8 in November from a three-month high level of 14.6 in October.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here