The markets are down this morning with the NASDAQ, the S&P 500, and the Dow are all in the red. This follows the increased number of COVID-19 cases and the return of strict lockdown measures. Over the weekend, the number of cases rose to hit a high of 83,757.
Europe too has seen a huge spike in cases with France leading the way with more than 52,000 cases yesterday. This has seen several countries fall back into lockdowns with Italy and Spain announcing very strict measures. In fact, Spain has already declared a state of emergency.
With the situation seemingly getting worse, the U.S economy, and the world economy at large is unlikely to reopen to pre-pandemic levels any time soon. On top of that, the number of cases is rising at a time when the U.S is close to an election, and there isn’t a consensus on a stimulus package to support the economy. This uncertainty could see the markets trade in the red for the better part of the day.
Nonetheless, even as markets show weakness across the globe, there are stocks that are performing quite well today. Most of the day’s biggest gainers are stocks that had some good news towards the end of last week and over the weekend. Some of the stocks doing well pre-market are as below:
Lianluo Smart Limited [NASDAQ: LLIT]
Lianluo Smart Limited is a top performer this morning and is up by over 900%. This follows the company’s announcement that it had entered into a merger agreement with Newegg Inc. Under the merger deal, shareholders of Newegg Inc will become the main shareholders of Lianluo Smart Limited. On top of that, LLIT will sell its stake in Lianluo Connection Medical Wearable Device Technology Co. Ltd. On top of that, after the merger, the new entity will carry out a public offering where it expects gross proceeds of $30 million.
Muscle Maker Inc [NASDAQ: GRIL]
Muscle Maker Inc is a top performer this morning and is up by over 80%. This follows the company’s announcement the acquisition of a previously franchisee-owned location in Chelsea in Manhattan. This is one of the busiest locations and generated over $1.1 million in revenues in 2019. As such, the acquisition gives muscle maker a chance to grow its business and test products in the market.
Smart Sand Inc [NASDAQ: SND]
Smart Sand Inc is up pre-market by over 30%. This follows the company’s announcement that it would release of Q3 results on November 9th, 2020. The expectation of positive results has seen the stock continue to gain.
