Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Turns Lower; Qudian Shares Surge

U.S. stocks pared gains midway through trading, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 turning lower on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.63% to 30,325.87 while the NASDAQ rose 0.11% to 10,820.85. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.34% to 3,736.97.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 2.5% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Continental Resources, Inc. CLR, up 14% and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT up 9%.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

US producer prices rose 0.8% month-over-month in May, following a 0.4% increase in the previous month. Analysts were also expecting for a 0.8% increase in prices.

Equities Trading UP

Sonim Technologies, Inc. SONM shares shot up 22% to $0.6343 after the company announced multiple additional purchase orders totaling $6.4 million in initial stocking orders from U.S. and Canadian carriers.

Shares of Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. SLNO got a boost, shooting 23% to $0.2097 after the company presented data from its DCCR development program at ENDO 2022.

Qudian Inc. QD shares were also up, gaining 58% to $1.1374 after the company announced a share repurchase program of up to $200 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Outset Medical, Inc. OM shares tumbled 28% to $14.72. Outset Medical implemented a shipment hold on the distribution of its Tablo Hemodialysis System for home use pending the FDA review and clearance of a 510(k).

Shares of AeroClean Technologies, Inc. AERC were down 16% to $14.50. Benchmark downgraded AeroClean Technologies from Buy to Hold.

SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC was down, falling 40% to $0.41. SeaChange International and Trillerverz, the AI-powered open garden platform for creators, mutually agreed to terminate their proposed merger signed on December 22, 2021.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $123.49, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,818.50.

Silver traded down 1.4% to $20.955 on Tuesday while copper fell 0.5% to $4.1895.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.86%, London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.05% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.77%. The German DAX dropped 0.51%, French CAC 40 fell 0.75% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.08%.

Wholesale prices in Germany climbed 22.9% year-over-year in May following a record 23.8% surge in the prior month, while annual inflation rate in the country was confirmed at 7.9% in May.

Average weekly earnings including bonuses in the UK rose by 6.8% year-over-year to GBP 604 during the three months to April, while jobless rate rose to 3.8% in the three months to April from 3.7% in the three months to March.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy meeting today.

The NFIB small business optimism index fell to 93.1 in May from 93.2 in April.

US producer prices rose 0.8% month-over-month in May, following a 0.4% increase in the previous month. Analysts were also expecting for a 0.8% increase in prices.

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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 87,424,840 cases with around 1,036,080 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,236,690 cases and 524,770 deaths, while Brazil reported over 31,497,030 COVID-19 cases with 668,230 deaths. In total, there were at least 541,111,130 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,332,610 deaths.