Dow Rises Over 50 Points; US NFIB Small Business Optimism Index Drops In March
U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining over 50 points on Tuesday.
Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 33,654.74 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06% to 12,077.55. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.09% to 4,112.89.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
- Materials shares rose by 0.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included New Gold Inc. (NYSE:NGD), up 9%, and Gatos Silver, Inc. (NYSE:GATO), up 9%.
- In trading on Tuesday, information technology fell by 0.7%.
Top Headline
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index in the U.S. fell to a three-month low level of 90.1 in March versus 90.9 in the previous month.
Equities Trading UP
- WW International, Inc. (NASDAQ:WW) shares shot up 39% to $5.68 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $3.8 to $13.
- Shares of Cognyte Software Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGNT) got a boost, shooting 20% to $4.1085 after reporting upbeat Q4 results.
- Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE:BKD) shares were also up, gaining 21% to $3.60 after the company reported favorable updates to its Q1 financial expectations based upon preliminary, unaudited results.
Equities Trading DOWN
- GlucoTrack, Inc. (NASDAQ:GCTK) shares dropped 31% to $2.1925 after surging 169% on Monday.
- Shares of Kalera Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:KAL) were down 27% to $1.97 after the company received a notice of delisting form Nasdaq.
- ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) was down, falling 25% to $11.34 after the company announced preliminary results for Q1 2023. The company expects preliminary revenue to be between $322 million and $326 million as compared to its guidance of $355 million to $375 million.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $80.17 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,014.60.
Silver traded up 0.5% to $25.045 on Tuesday while copper rose 1.1% to $4.0215.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.50%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.8%. The German DAX rose 0.4%, French CAC 40 rose 1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.8%.
Retail trade in the Eurozone declined by 0.8% from a month ago in February versus a revised 0.8% increase in the prior month. Retail sales in the UK surged 4.9% from a year ago in March.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.05%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surging 0.76% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropping 0.05%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.5%.
Chinese annual inflation rate came in at 0.7% in March, while producer prices dipped 2.5% year-over-year in March. Auto sales in China climbed by 9.7% year-over-year to 2.45 million units in March, while China's total social financing increased to CNY 5.38 trillion in March from CNY 3.16 trillion in the earlier month. Foreign exchange reserves in Hong Kong climbed to $430.7 billion in March from $429.1 billion a month ago.
Economics
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index in the U.S. fell to a three-month low level of 90.1 in March versus 90.9 in the previous month.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,376,390 cases with around 1,157,020 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,768,170 cases and 531,000 deaths, while France reported over 39,851,370 COVID-19 cases with 165,850 deaths. In total, there were at least 685,060,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,838,150 deaths.