The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is 374 points lower at midday, as JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) post-earnings reaction weighs on the blue-chip index. Also impacting investor sentiment is dismal retail sales data for December, which came in well below analysts' estimates. Wall Street is also unpacking upbeat business inventories for November, while industrial production missed expectations. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are sharply lower as a result, with all three major indexes now pacing for their second-straight weekly loss of 2022.

Options traders are blasting Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) today, after Macau's government said it will cap the number of new casinos allowed to operate in the area at six. So far, 116,000 calls and 29,000 puts have exchanged hands, volume that is 13 times the intraday average. Most popular by far is the weekly 1/14 45-strike call, followed by the January 46 call, with new positions being opened at both. LVS was last seen up 14.1% to trade at $43.01, pacing for its highest close since early September, yet remains down 23%, year-over-year.

Guardforce AI Co Ltd (Nasdaq: GFAI) is one of the best stocks on the Nasdaq today, last seen up 100.5% at $2.11. The tech company announced plans to expand Robotics as a Service (RaaS) in China with the acquisition of Shenzhen Keweien Robot Service and Guangzhou Kewei Robot Technology. Even after today's bull gap, GFAI still carries a 76.3% year-over-year deficit.

Among the worst stocks on the Nasdaq is Vyne Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq: VYNE), last seen down 12.6% to trade at 69 cents, after earlier dropping to an all-time low of 66 cents. Today's bear gap came after the biotech said it is divesting topical minocycline assets. The shares have been plummeting since February, guided lower by overhead pressure from the 80-day moving average. VYNE has shed 89.8% over the past 12 months.