Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Turns Negative; Turquoise Hill Resources Shares Spike Higher
U.S. stocks turned lower toward the end of trading on Monday as the Dow Jones dropped 100 points, after surging more than 400 points earlier during the session.
The Dow traded down 0.35% to 32,828.57 while the NASDAQ fell 2.10% to 12,574.22. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.96% to 4,163.91.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financials shares climbed by 1.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB), up 10% and Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:SCU) up 8%.
In trading on Monday, energy shares fell by 2.8%.
Top Headline
Russia sought China's military equipment to support its invasion of Ukraine, Financial Times reported citing U.S. officials. The U.S. looks to caution its allies against China's possible assistance to Russia.
Equities Trading UP
Volt Information Sciences, Inc. (NYSE:VOLT) shares shot up 96% to $5.91 after the company announced it would be acquired for $6 per share.
Shares of Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (NYSE:TRQ) got a boost, shooting 32% to $26.57 after Rio Tinto proposed to acquire the company at C$34 per share.
BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) shares were also up, gaining 12% to $ 152.05. The Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine is only moderately effective against the omicron variant when tested in children ages 5 to 15. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Abt Associates, the shot showed 59% efficacy in those ages 12 to 15 and 31% in those ages 5 to 11.
Equities Trading DOWN
Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) shares tumbled 61% to $4.1599 after the company's Phase 3 PIVOT trial did not meet its primary endpoint.
Shares of Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:KC) were down 47% to $2.5950. JP Morgan downgraded Kingsoft Cloud from Neutral to Underweight and announced a $3.5 price target.
Waitr Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:WTRH) was down, falling 32% to $0.31 after the company on Friday reported Q4 earnings, posting a year-over-year decline in revenue.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 6.3% to $102.49, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,959.20.
Silver traded down 2.9% Monday to $25.405 while copper fell 2.2% to $4.5260.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.20%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.57%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.13%. The German DAX gained 2.21%, French CAC 40 gained 1.75% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.67%.
French current account deficit declined to EUR 1.79 billion in January from EUR 7.04 billion in the prior month, while trade deficit shrank to EUR 8.03 billion from EUR 11.39 billion. Wholesale price inflation in Germany increased 16.6% year-over-year in February.
Economics
There were no major US economic releases Monday.
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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 81,174,670 cases with around 993,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,993,490 cases and 515,900 deaths, while Brazil reported over 29,368,770 COVID-19 cases with 655,130 deaths. In total, there were at least 458,633,270 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,066,830 deaths.