Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Nasdaq Tumbles 4%

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 4% on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.85% to 33,429.63 while the NASDAQ fell 4.09% to 12,434.89. The S&P also fell, dropping, 2.58% to 4,189.12.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.3% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dorian LPG Ltd. LPG, up 11% and Indonesia Energy Corporation Limited INDO up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell by 4%.

Top Headline

Kellogg Company K reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

The company reported first-quarter FY22 sales growth of 2.4% year-on-year to $3.67 billion, beating the consensus of $3.59 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.10 beat the analyst consensus of $0.93.

Equities Trading UP

Better Therapeutics, Inc. BTTX shares shot up 28% to $2.79.

Shares of Cyngn Inc. CYN got a boost, shooting 31% to $4.15. On Wednesday, the company highlighted the launch of its Infinitracker device, "a global positioning satellite asset-tracking device and Internet of things data collection gateway with up to 15 years of battery life."

Hudson Technologies, Inc. HDSN shares were also up, gaining 26% to $8.98 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nephros, Inc. NEPH shares tumbled 32% to $2.8999 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results and withdrew its FY22 revenue guidance.

Shares of BioAtla, Inc. BCAB were down 31% to $2.81 after the company reported Q1 net loss results were higher year over year. Following earnings, Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral and lowered its price target on the stock from $35 to $5.

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. SFM was down, falling 25% to $23.62 r after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results and issued Q2 EPS guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $109.34, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,889.10.

Silver traded up 1.9% to $22.82 Thursday while copper fell 0.1% to $4.3370.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.8% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%. The German DAX gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 gained 0.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.1%.

The S&P Global Eurozone’s construction PMI slipped to 50.4 in April from March’s reading of 52.8. The S&P Global German construction PMI declined to 46 in April from 50.9 in March, while French construction PMI climbed to 50.7 in April from 48.4.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI was revised higher to 58.9 in April from a preliminary reading of 58.3, while new car registrations in the country dipped 15.8% year-over-year to 119,167 units in April.

Economics

 

US initial jobless claims rose by 19 thousand to 200 thousand in the week ended April 30th, versus a revised 181 thousand in the prior period.

Nonfarm labor productivity dropped 7.5% in the first quarter, while unit labor costs climbed 11.6%.

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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 83,356,490 cases with around 1,023,510 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,091,390 cases and 523,970 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,502,500 COVID-19 cases with 663,810 deaths. In total, there were at least 515,414,320 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,269,830 deaths.