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ISpecimen Shares Rise 8%; Break Downward Trend

Shares of human biospecimens online platform iSpecimen Inc. (ISPC) are up 8 percent on Tuesday’s trading, thus breaking the downward movement since the past few days.

iSpecimen Inc is a technology-driven company focused on connecting life science researchers who need human biofluids, tissues, and living cells for their research, with the available biospecimens. It began trading on the Nasdaq on June 17.

Currently at $8.66, the stock has traded between $4.75 and $28.78 during the past 52 weeks.

Gold Futures Settle Notably Higher

Gold futures settled higher on Tuesday as prices rebounded from a two-week lows touched in the previous session. The dollar’s retreat from higher levels helped the yellow metal’s uptick.

The dollar index, which climbed to 96.46, dropped to 96.03 by late morning, but recovered to 96.28 subsequently, netting a marginal gain.

Gold futures for February ended higher by $14.50 or about 0.8% at $1,814.60 an ounce. Gold futures had ended lower by 1.6% at a near 2-week low on Monday amid bets of earlier-than-expected rate hikes.

Silver futures for March ended up by $0.246 at $23.056 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $4.4750 per pound, gaining $0.0535.

In economic news, activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector grew at a slower rate in the month of December, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI slid to 58.7 in December from 61.1 in November. While a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector, economists had expected the index to show a much more modest decrease to 60.2.

With the bigger than expected decrease, the manufacturing PMI fell to its lowest level since a matching reading last January.

Texas Gov. Abbott to sue Biden admin over vaccine mandate for National Guard

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday released a letter announcing his intention to sue the federal government for what he claimed is an unconstitutional vaccine mandate for the Texas National Guard.

“As the commander-in-chief of Texas’s militia, I have issued a straightforward order to every member of the Texas National Guard within my chain of command: Do not punish any guardsman for choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” the letter reads in part.

“Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions. And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. Let me be crystal clear: It is the federal government that has put Texas’s guardsmen in this difficult position. As your commander-in-chief, I will fight on your behalf. That is why I am suing the Biden Administration over its latest unconstitutional vaccine mandate,” the letter continued.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

RBI promotes Kumar, Choudhary as EDs

RBI promotes Kumar, Choudhary as EDs

The Reserve Bank of India has elevated Deepak Kumar and Ajay Kumar Choudhary as Executive Directors (EDs) with effect from January 03.

Previously, Dr. Kumar was heading the Department of Information Technology of RBI while As ED, he will look after Foreign Exchange Department, Department of Communication and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBI.

Mr. Choudhary was the Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Supervision. As ED, he will look after Fintech Department, Risk Monitoring Department and Inspection Department.

US gasoline demand drops amid omicron surge, lowest since Memorial Day

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The ongoing surge in omicron cases appears to have caused a decline in U.S. gasoline demand, according to an industry expert. 

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On Monday, gasoline demand was down 6.3% from a week ago, which is the "weakest since Memorial Day," according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Demand was also down 5.5% on Sunday compared to a week ago, according to De Haan. 

De Haan told FOX Business that it's too early to tell if this trend will continue and that the current decline doesn't necessarily have a significant impact on consumers right now.

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Still, demand will be low enough to "help better balance high global demand and low supply," De Haan added, 

In general, lower demand can mean lower gas prices at the pump but "in the current imbalanced market, lower demand coupled with rising supply may soften future prices," according to De Haan. 

Currently, GasBuddy projects that prices at the pump will continue to climb into early 2022 with the national average projected to reach $4 per gallon by spring.

GasBuddy estimated that prices may even peak as high as $4.13 per gallon in June before cooling off and "falling back to potentially just under $3 per gallon by the holiday season."