Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Nasdaq Tumbles 100 Points

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq dropping more than 100 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.12% to 33,167.07 while the NASDAQ fell 0.89% to 12,452.10. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.24% to 4 4,165.49.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI, up 12% and Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited INDO up 4%.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

Moderna, Inc. MRNA posted upbeat results for its first quarter.

Moderna posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $8.58 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $5.21 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $6.10 billion, versus expectations of $4.43 billion.

Moderna reiterated its 2022 signed advance purchase agreements of $21 billion.

Equities Trading UP

CarParts.com, Inc. PRTS shares shot up 24% to $8.46 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. SMCI got a boost, shooting 23% to $53.25 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results and raised Q4 guidance.

Superior Industries International, Inc. SUP shares were also up, gaining 20% to $3.8450 following better-than-expected Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Amarin Corporation plc AMRN shares tumbled 45% to $1.5018 after it said it would continue suspending 2022 revenue guidance and Q1 earnings came short of expectations. The company reported Q1 sales of $94.6 million, down 33% Y/Y, missing the consensus of $128.37 million.

Shares of Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. KZR were down 35% to $7.95 after the company reported topline results from the PRESIDIO Phase 2 trial of zetomipzomib (KZR-616) in patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM), chronic inflammatory diseases of muscle.

Lyft, Inc. LYFT was down, falling 34% to $20.38 after the company reported Q1 earnings results and issued Q2 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4% to $106.46, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,867.00.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $22.57 while copper rose 0.6% to $4.3090.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.3%. The German DAX slipped 0.1%, French CAC 40 fell 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.4%.

Retail sales in the Eurozone dropped 0.4% from a month ago in March, while services PMI rose to 57.7 in April from 55.6 in March. Consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 1.3 billion in March.

The S&P Global France services PMI climbed to 58.9 in April from 57.4 in the previous month, while German services PMI was revised lower to 57.6 in April from a preliminary level of 57.9. The S&P Global Italian services PMI climbed to 55.7 in April from 52.1 a month ago, while Spanish services PMI increased to 57.1 from 53.4.

Economics

 

Private businesses in the US hired 247,000 workers during April, the ADP said.

The US trade deficit widened to a record high level of $109.8 billion in March. Exports from the US increased by 5.6%, while imports increased 10.3%.

The S&P Global services PMI was revised higher to 55.6 in April from a preliminary reading of 54.7.

The ISM Services PMI declined to 57.1 in April from 58.3 in March.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.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 83,240,100 cases with around 1,021,580 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,088,400 cases and 523,920 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,482,420 COVID-19 cases with 663,760 deaths. In total, there were at least 514,751,380 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,266,080 deaths.