Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower Amid Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict

U.S. stocks opened on a downbeat note this morning, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has led to increased US sanctions on Russia.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 1.38% to 33,587.55 while the NASDAQ fell 0.61% to 13,611.57. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.12% to 4,335.65.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 0.8% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Renewable Energy Group, Inc. REGI, up 38% and Nordic American Tankers Limited NAT up 21%.

In trading on Friday, financials shares fell by 2.1%.

Top Headline

Dentsply Sirona Inc XRAY reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Dentsply Sirona’s Q4 FY21 sales increased 0.6% Y/Y to $1.09 billion, missing the consensus of $1.13 billion. Adjusted EPS decreased to $0.76 from $0.87 a year ago and below the consensus of $0.79.

The company said it expects adjusted EPS of $3.05 - $3.25, up 6% -13% Y/Y, compared to the consensus of $3.19.

Equities Trading UP

Renewable Energy Group, Inc. REGI shares shot up 38% to $60.51 after Chevron Corp CVX announced an agreement to acquire the company.

Shares of IntriCon Corporation IIN got a boost, shooting 37% to $23.90 after the company agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Altaris Capital Partners for $241 million. IntriCon also posted Q4 EPS of $0.23.

First Horizon Corporation FHN shares were also up, gaining 30% to $23.75 after TD announced acquisition of the company for $25 per share in cash.

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Equities Trading DOWN

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. AUPH shares tumbled 31% to $11.16 after the company reported a wider quarterly loss.

Shares of Viatris Inc. VTRS were down 23% to $11.13 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results and issued FY22 sales guidance below estimates. Biocon Biologics Ltd agreed to acquire Viatris biosimilars assets for up to $3.335 billion in stock and cash.

EPAM Systems, Inc. EPAM was down, falling 28% to $276.05 after the company announced it withdrew Q1 and FY22 guidance due to uncertainties related to the events in Ukraine.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4% to $95.24, while gold traded up 1.7% to $1,919.10.

Silver traded up 2.3% Monday to $24.56 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.4910.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.4%. The German DAX declined 2.1%, French CAC 40 dipped 2.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.9%.

Spain’s current account balance swung to a deficit of EUR 1.31 billion in December versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 0.92 billion. Spain's annual inflation rate increased to 7.4% in February from 6.1% in January.

Economics

The US goods trade deficit increased to an all-time high of $ 107.63 billion in January from a revised level of $100.47 billion in the prior month.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.8% month-over-month to $798.2 billion in January.

The Chicago PMI dropped to 56.3 points in February from 65.2 points in January.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index climbed to 14.00 for February versus prior reading of 2.00.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for January will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 80,567,750 cases with around 973,110 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,924,130 cases and 513,840 deaths, while Brazil reported over 28,768,100 COVID-19 cases with 649,190 deaths. In total, there were at least 436,400,520 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,970,270 deaths.