The Nasdaq is up over 160 points midday
Stocks are higher midday, with the major benchmarks looking to pick up some of last week's losses. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is up over 160 points at the midway mark, as the declining 10-year Treasury yield points investors back to tech. Specifically, Tesla (TSLA) is surging on fresh analyst coverage from Wood's Ark Invest, which said the stock's price could quadruple in the next for years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also trading comfortably higher, while Wall Street eyes positive Covid-19 vaccine updates, including AstraZeneca's (AZN) upbeat trial data, released earlier today. Elsewhere, the Chicago Fed’s national activity index showed U.S. economic activity shrinking in February for the first time since last April.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Pepsi stock pops past pressure after analyst upgrade.
- Convertible debt deal sends JetBlue stock lower.
- Plus, Options traders blast regulation-wary RLX; SPRT soars after merger; and ODT plummets to record lows.
One stock seeing a surge in options volume today is China-based e-vapor name RLX Technology Inc (NYSE:RLX). So far, 31,000 calls and 28,000 puts have crossed the tape -- 13 times what's typically seen at this point. The April 15 put is the most popular, followed by the April 12.50 call, with new positions being opened at the latter. At last look, RLX was down 41.2% at $11.43, after news that China is considering regulation plans for e-cigarettes.
The top performer on the Nasdaq today is Support.com, Inc (NASDAQ:SPRT). The equity is up a whopping 252.8% to trade at $7.55 at last check -- breaking out of penny stock territory for the first time since 2014. This soaring price action comes after the cloud-based software company announced its merger with bitcoin miner Greenidge Generation Holdings.
On the other hand, Odonate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ODT) is gapping to a record low, down 75.6% to trade at $4.63 this afternoon. This plummet comes after the company announced it would discontinue the development of its chemotherapy drug candidate, tesetaxel. The stock breached support at its 120-day moving average as a result, and is now down over 80% year-over-year.
