Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 19,931.13 while the NASDAQ declined 0.39 percent to
5,466.22. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.36 percent to 2,260.73.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Basic materials shares gained around 0.41 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included
Mechel PAO (ADR) (NYSE: MTL), and Cliffs Natural
Resources Inc (NYSE: CLF).
In trading on Wednesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares slipped by 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector
included Fred's, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED), down 4 percent,
and Zagg Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG), down 5 percent.
Top Headline
Shares of Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: GALE), a
nano-cap biopharmaceutical company that focuses on hematology and oncology therapeutics for the treatment of unmet medical needs,
gained around 43 on Wednesday.
Galena is currently evaluating its GALE-401 therapy for the treatment of thrombocythemia. The company confirmed the regulatory
pathway to advance its therapy into a pivotal, Phase 3 trial.
Galena said that after meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it can now confirm the development program and the
proposed clinical trial is appropriate for a New Drug Application filing as part of the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway.
Equities Trading UP
Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: GALE) shares shot up
43 percent to $2.80. Galena is currently evaluating its GALE-401 therapy for the treatment of thrombocythemia. The company
confirmed the regulatory pathway to advance its therapy into a pivotal, Phase 3 trial.
Shares of Micronet Enertec Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: MICT) got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $1.41 after the company disclosed that
its subsidiary has received a $1,060,000 continuous purchase order for its recently released TREQr5 product.
Ocera Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OCRX) shares were
also up, gaining 18 percent to $2.60. H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on Ocera Therapeutics with a Buy rating and a $10 price
target.
Equities Trading DOWN
Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ANTH) shares
dropped 66 percent to $0.682 after the company disclosed that the Phase 3 SOLUTION study with Sollpura has missed the primary
endpoint.
Shares of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd (NYSE: NAK)
were down around 13 percent to $2.15.
VisionChina Media Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ: VISN) was
down, falling around 13 percent to $4.95. VisionChina reported Q3 GAAP earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $12.8 million.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.33 percent to $54.08 while gold traded up 0.09 percent to $1,139.80.
Silver traded up 0.35 percent Wednesday to $16.05, while copper fell 0.54 percent to $2.50.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.60
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.72 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40
slipped 0.15 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.38 percent.
Economics
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 1.3 percent year-over-year during the first four weeks of December.
The pending home sales index dropped 2.5 percent to 107.3 in November, compared to 110 in the previous month.
The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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