Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Dow Tumbles Over 300 Points

U.S. stocks opened lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 300 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 1.09% to 33,444.51 while the NASDAQ fell 0.45% to 12,781.12. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.14% to 4,222.92.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose by 0.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Redbox Entertainment Inc. RDBX, up 19% and Sohu.com Limited SOHU up 4%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares dipped by 4.5%.

Top Headline

Coca-Cola Co KO reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Friday.

Coca-Cola reported first-quarter FY22 net revenue growth of 16% year-on-year, to $10.49 billion, beating the consensus of $9.83 billion. Adjusted EPS of $0.64 beat the analyst consensus of $0.58.

Coca-Cola expects the suspension of Russian business to affect 1% - 2% of its net revenue and operating income. The company still sees FY22 organic revenue growth of 7% - 8% and comparable EPS growth of 5% - 6%.

Equities Trading UP

Nkarta, Inc. NKTX shares shot up 113% to $16.53 after the company announced Phase 1 data from independent dose finding studies of its two lead chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cell therapy candidates, NKX101 and NKX019.

Shares of Sunshine Biopharma, Inc. SBFM got a boost, shooting 23% to $4.0891 after the company reported it filed a provisional patent application in the US covering the recently communicated mRNA molecules found in pre-clinical trials to be effective at destroying cancer cells grown in culture.

Cango Inc. CANG shares were also up, gaining 20% to $2.8321. Cango, last month, reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Eliem Therapeutics, Inc. ELYM shares tumbled 56% to $2.82 after the company announced the Phase 2a clinical trial of ETX-810 in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain did not achieve the primary endpoint. The company also announced it elected to delay enrollment of its Phase 2a clinical trials of ETX-155 in major depressive disorder and perimenopausal depression.

Shares of ToughBuilt Industries, Inc. TBLT were down 45% to $14.50. ToughBuilt Industries reported a 1-for-150 reverse stock split as part of Nasdaq compliance plan.

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. AXSM was down, falling 23% to $30.30 after the company reported it was informed by the FDA that chemistry, manufacturing, and control issues identified during the FDA's review of its NDA for its AXS-07 product candidate are unresolved.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.6% to $96.39, while gold traded down 2.1% to $1,894.70.

Silver traded down 2.7% Monday to $23.61 while copper fell 3.3% to $4.4320.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 2.1%, London’s FTSE 100 declined 2.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.2%. The German DAX fell 1.7%, French CAC 40 fell 2.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2%.

Construction output in the Eurozone climbed 9.4% year-over-year in February, following a revised 4.4% growth in the prior month. The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany increased to 91.8 in April from March’s 14-month low level of 90.8, while Spanish producer price inflation accelerated to a new record high of 46.6% year-over-year in March from a revised 41.2% in the earlier month.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to 0.44 in March from a revised reading of 0.54 in February.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for April will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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

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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 82,662,740 cases with around 1,018,330 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,060,080 cases and 522,220 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,349,460 COVID-19 cases with 662,700 deaths. In total, there were at least 509,613,690 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,243,540 deaths.