Dow Gains Over 50 Points; Nippon Steel To Acquire U. S. Steel

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 50 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.15% to 37,362.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.14% to 14,835.17. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.29% to 4,732.84.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1.8% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

Nippon Steel Corp (OTC:NISTF) announced plans to acquire United States Steel Corp (NYSE:X) for $14.1 billion-plus debt, with a total enterprise value of $14.9 billion.

The acquisition price of $55.00 per share represents a 40% premium to X’s closing stock price on Dec. 15, 2023.

Equities Trading UP

iCoreConnect Inc. (NASDAQ:ICCT) shares shot up 81% to $3.0699 after surging over 73% on Friday.

Shares of Biomerica, Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRA) got a boost, surging 59% to $1.5715. Biomerica received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Hp Detect Stool Antigen ELISA test, designed to detect the presence of the H. pylori bacteria.

Cuentas Inc. (NASDAQ:CUEN) shares were also up, gaining 43% to $1.97.

Equities Trading DOWN

Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKPT) shares dropped 57% to $1.43. The FDA has issued a Complete Response letter to Checkpoint Therapeutics’ Cosibelimab Biologic License Application for metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation.

Shares of Structure Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:GPCR) were down 52% to $28.34 after the company announced a comprehensive development program update for GSBR-1290.

Minerva Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTRS) was down, falling 51% to $1.3799. On Dec. 15, 2023, Minerva Surgical notified the Nasdaq of its intent to file a Form 25 with the SEC on or about Dec. 26, 2023 to effect the voluntary delisting of the company’s common stock from Nasdaq.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.8% to $73.43 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,036.90.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $24.185 on Monday while copper fell 0.5% to $3.8725.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1% The German DAX fell 0.4% French CAC 40 fell 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.3%.

The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany fell to a three-month low level of 86.4 in December versus a revised reading of 87.2 in November.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.64%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declining 0.97% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.40%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 0.24%.

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports rose by 1% year-over-year in November compared to a revised 3.5% decline in October.

Economics

The housing market index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

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