Stocks Rally in Return from Christmas Holiday 📈

Stocks closed last week on a high note with decent gains on Friday. The Dow and S&P 500 both added a half-point, while the Nasdaq underperformed with a 0.2% gain. The small-cap Russell 2K closed the session flat.

Today, futures are on the rise ahead of the opening bell. Dow and S&P 500 contracts are up 0.6% in early-morning trading.

🇨🇳 China Eases Quarantine Rules: China said it would end all Covid-19 quarantine measures, including those for international arrivals, starting on Jan. 8th.

📉 S&P 500 Losing Streak: The S&P 500 closed last week lower, marking its third consecutive weekly loss.

HTG Molecular is moving higher after closing an offering.

The life sciences company announced the close of a previously announced public offering of 1.29 million shares and warrants after Friday's closing bell.

HTG's offering included units consisting of one share of common stock and one pre-funded warrant for a price of $7.75 apiece.

The company reported gross proceeds of $10.0 million from the offering, and it intends to use the funds for general corporate purposes, such as R&D and clinical development.

HTGM is up 58.3% in the premarket, making it one of this morning's top performers.

My Take: HTGM closed Friday with a 27.0% loss, but it now seems that the sell off was overdone. The stock is also showing an elevated short percentage of 4.81%, which may have also contributed to today's rebound.

180 Life Sciences is also moving higher on offering news.

The tiny life sciences company announced the closing of an at-the-market registered direct offering at Friday's open.

180 Life Science said the sale of 1.7 million shares of common stock and 2.6 million warrants generated proceeds of about $6 million.

Shares and accompanying warrants sold at a price of $3.50 apiece.

The company says proceeds from the sale will go towards R&D expenses and general corporate purposes.

The stock sank to a 21.5% loss on Friday following the initial announcement, but it's rebounding dramatically in Monday's premarket.

ATNF is trading actively ahead of the opening bell, with a 75.8% gain.

My Take: ATNF has a shockingly high short percentage of 58.45%, so it's very likely that there's a short squeeze underway here. Be cautious because there's no telling when this move could run out of steam and reverse course.

AMC Entertainment's common stock is down, but preferred shares are up big.

The movie company's preferred shares are adding to their gains from last week with another breakout rally in today's premarket.

The stock started moving higher on Friday after its parent company announced the sale of $110 million worth of preferred shares to Antara Capital.

AMC's preferred shares closed Friday with a 44.1% gain, and it maintained its bullish momentum through the long holiday weekend.

This morning, APE is up another 20.2% on active premarket trading volume.

My Take: APE has a short percentage of 8.34%, so there are likely some short squeeze elements in play in this move. Social media chatter on forums like Reddit's Wall Street Bets also indicates some coordinated buying among retail traders.

IceCure Medical is running hot after a strong close to last week.

The medical device company announced the closing of a previously announced public offering of 8.787 million shares on Friday.

The "best efforts" offering was priced at $1.65 per share and generated gross proceeds of approximately $14.5 million.

The net proceeds will fund the development of IceCure's Probe and MultiSense systems, collecting clinical data, pursuing regulatory approval, and more.

News of the closing sent ICCM to a 6.0% gain on Friday, and it's running hot again in today's premarket.

Today, ICCM is up 11.4% in the premarket on active trading volume.

My Take: ICCM has been very volatile over the past week of trading, but it seems to have found new support at around $1.32 per share. This stock could have a good chance at maintaining these gains moving forward.

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