The markets are up this morning, with the NASDAQ leading the way. This has been driven by the increased momentum around big tech. More specifically, Apple and Tesla are the two key big tech stocks that are leading the way. The excitement comes from the news of the stock split itself and the fact that the two companies have recorded consistent growth all through the year. Besides big tech, there is increased optimism in the market banked on hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over. This is evident in the moves and investments that big companies are making. Yesterday, the markets woke up to the news that Nestle was buying Aimmune in a deal worth $2.6 billion. Similarly, companies are now confident enough to start doing mega IPOs. Today, Reuters has reported that Chindata, a Chinese data centre company was planning to do a $400 million IPO in the U.S. This would make it the 5^th largest IPO of a Chinese company in the U.S in 2020. Such moves point to growing optimism in the market that the future is bright. As positive market sentiment grows, certain stocks that have positive news are outperforming the market. Some of the best performers ahead of markets are as below:

Plus Therapeutics Inc [NASDAQ: PSTV]

Plus Therapeutics Inc is a top performer this morning and is up by close to 50% pre-market.  This follows the company’s announcement that the U.S FDA had given it an orphan drug designation for Rhenium NanoLiposomes, an investigational drug for treating recurrent glioblastoma. The treatment is being developed with support from the NIH and NCI and is phase 1 dose-finding clinical trial. Commenting on the development, the company’s CEO, Dr. Marc Hedrick stated that the approval by the FDA was a key milestone towards the development of the treatment. He added that they believed the treatment has the potential to increase patient lifespans.

Priority Technology Holdings Inc [NASDAQ: PRTH]

Priority Technology Holdings Inc is another top performer this morning and is up by over 30% pre-market. This follows the company’s announcement that it had entered into an agreement with MRI software for the sale of its RentPayment™ business. Under the deal, MRI will buy the business that comprises of RentPayment.com™, DuesPayment.com™ and StorageRentPayment.com™. The deal also stipulates that Priority will provide its payment infrastructure as a service to the MRI platform.

Athenex Inc [NASDAQ: ATNX]

Athenex Inc is another top performer this morning and is up by over 20%. This follows the company’s announcement that the FD had accepted its NDA filing for its metastatic cancer treatments called Oral Paclitaxel and Encequidar. CEO Johnson Lau stated that they were happy with the milestone and continue making preparations for a commercial launch.