Concerns about spiking Covid-19 cases sent US stocks to a negative finish Thursday, overshadowing the optimism from news early in the week about a potential vaccine. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1 percent to end the session at 29,080.17. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.0 percent to 3,537.01, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 0.7 percent to 11,709.59, erasing much of the gains posted on Wednesday. Investors were upbeat after Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday announced promising results from a vaccine that trials showed was 90 percent effective. But worrying news that Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations were nearing levels seen in the worst days of the pandemic has investors on edge once again.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, weighed down by the surge in coronavirus cases that is hampering the global economy, along with an unexpected rise in US crude stockpiles. Oil futures tracked with US equities, which also fell on pandemic concerns. Europe is grappling with a sharp increase in infections and new social restrictions. In the United States, new cases have surpassed 100,000 per day for several days, and more than a dozen states have doubled their caseloads in the last two weeks. Brent crude fell 27 cents to settle at US$43.53 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 33 cents to settle at US$41.12 a barrel.

Mapletree Logistics Trust's preferential offering was oversubscribed, raising gross proceeds of S$144.1 million, the trust's manager said in a Singapore Exchange filing Thursday night. The offering was part of an equity fund-raising exercise, alongside a private placement that raised about S$500 million. This brings total gross proceeds for the fundraising to S$644.1 million.

Sunpower Group reported a net profit of 36.6 million yuan (S$7.45 million) for the third quarter ended Sept 30, down 66.8 percent from the year-ago period, in the results release on Thursday night. But without the financial effects of convertible bonds and warrants, net profit would have risen 33.4 percent to 105.2 million yuan.

Synagie Corporation has changed its name to V2Y Corporation, it announced on Thursday night. This is after shareholder approval was gained for the proposed name change, and the disposal of its e-commerce business was completed. On Nov 12, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore issued a notice confirming that the name change had taken effect the same day, said V2Y. The company's trading counter name on Catalist will be changed to V2Y Corp from 9 am on Nov 17.

Luzhou Bio-Chem Technology has received in-principal approval for its delisting, it announced on Thursday night in a Singapore Exchange filing. This follows the offer for and resulting compulsory acquisition of the company's shares by founder Niu Ji Xing in a bid to take the firm private via investment holding company Starnova, of which he is the sole director.

Q&M Dental Group has received a non-binding proposal from certain shareholders of Aidite (Qinhuangdao) Technology, in respect of the group's disposal of its remaining stake in the associate, the Mainboard-listed firm said in a holding announcement on Thursday evening. Talks on this proposal are ongoing and no definitive terms have been agreed upon between the parties, said Q&M Dental Group. "Further, there is no certainty or assurance whatsoever that any transaction will arise from these discussions."

Exxon Mobil said on Thursday it remains committed to expanding its refining-petrochemical complex in Singapore amid an ongoing review of its projects globally. Along with other oil producers, Exxon has been slashing costs due to a collapse in oil demand and ill-timed bets on new projects. The top US oil company earlier outlined more than US$10 billion in budget cuts this year.

The US government said on Thursday it would delay enforcement of a ban on TikTok, in compliance with a court order in favour of the Chinese-owned social media sensation. The Commerce Department said in a federal register notice it was holding off on enforcement on the ban - which had been ordered based on national security concerns voiced by US officials - as a result of an injunction by a federal judge issued on October 30.

Walt Disney on Thursday said it swung to a loss in the just-ended quarter as the global pandemic hit its theme parks and cinema operations. The media-entertainment powerhouse reported a loss of US$710 million in the period ending October 3, compared with a US$777 million profit in the same period a year ago. Revenue slumped 23 percent from last year to US$14.7 billion. But Disney shares jumped in after-hours trade on news that its recently launched streaming television service Disney+ had hit 73 million subscribers in a positive sign for the company shifting to compete with rivals like Netflix.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR