Investors often look forward to strong performance for the stock market toward the end of the year. This December, though, sustained gains have been hard to come by, and uncertainty about the economic prospects for 2023 is weighing on sentiment. Despite a string of recent declines on past days, stock index futures were mixed Tuesday morning, with futures on the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.18%) easing lower by about a quarter percent as of 8 a.m. ET.
There were a few stocks that tried to buck the downtrend and move higher. Lucid Group (LCID -4.04%) got a modest boost following good news in its efforts to raise capital, with shares trying to bounce back from lows not seen since its 2020 initial public offering. However, a stock that’s not quite as much on most investors’ radar screens got an even bigger boost, as attention turned to biopharmaceutical company Verona Pharma (VRNA -5.00%) and its most recent…
