The stock markets are up this afternoon after a slow start earlier in the day. This follows the release of data pointing to better than expected jobless numbers and the continued talks on an economic stimulus. According to a report by the Labor Department, new jobless numbers dropped to a low of $1.19 million.  Nonetheless, the unemployed numbers still held above the 1 million mark for 20 weeks in a row.

This points to a mixed picture of the economy when also combined with the weak private employment data that came out yesterday. Even in this environment of mixed outlook, the market is boosted by hopes of a deal in Washington with regards to an economic bailout. In this environment of cautious optimism, several stocks are doing better than the average. Some of the top performers this afternoon are as below:

Denali Therapeutics Inc [NASDAQ:DNLI]

Denali Therapeutics Inc is a top performer this afternoon and is up by 37.26%.  This follows the company’s announcement that it had struck a billion-dollar collaboration on a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The company stated that it had entered into a deal with drug company Biogen. Under the deal, Biogen will commit over $1 billion towards the drug.  Through the deal, Biogen will take an 11% stake in Denali or $13.3 million priced at $34.94. Commenting on the deal, Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos stated that their collaboration with Denali was an opportunity to come up with a top-of-the-range therapy that could slow down Parkinson’s disease.

American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc [NASDAQ:AVCT]

American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc is another top performer this afternoon and is up by over 60%.  This follows the company’s announcement that it was purchasing Ribbons Kandy communications business. Yesterday, the two companies stated that the deal would be an all-stock transaction.

AVC Technologies CEO stated that they were happy with the acquisition as it was a major step in the company’s bid to offer its clients better cloud solutions. Darrell further stated that as a company, they felt lucky to have bought Kandy, a business that had created one of the world’s best cloud communications platform.  The company’s Chief Operating Officer weighed in on the issue stating that the purchase would speed up the company’s growth strategy of working towards establishing a foothold in the cloud communications market.

AdiTx Therapeutics Inc [NASDAQ:ADTX]

This is another top performer this afternoon and is up by over 100%. This comes after the company announced that it had introduced AditxtScore™ for detecting antibodies that can fight antigens linked to SARS-COV-2. Commenting on this development, Stanford Blood Center CEO Harpreet Sandhu stated that this could transform the fight against COVID-19 by offering fast and accurate test results. From the stock’s price action, the market is excited too.