Why U.S. Stocks Are Trading Higher; Housing Starts Drop Further In June

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 350 points on Tuesday.

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.15% to 31,429.04 while the NASDAQ rose 1.18% to 11,493.63. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.31% to 3,880.93.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares rose 2.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. WFG, up 18% and O-I Glass, Inc. OI up 7%.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares rose by just 0.9%.

Top Headline

U.S. housing starts fell 2% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.559 million units in June, the lowest since September 2021. Building permits, meanwhile, dropped 0.6% to an annualized rate of 1.685 million in June, the weakest level since September last year.

 

Equities Trading UP

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. APLS shares shot up 25% to $56.17 after the company announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted and granted priority review designation for the new drug application for Pegcetacoplan.

Shares of West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. WFG got a boost, shooting 17% to $97.76 following a Reuters report suggesting CVC Capital and Kronospan are in a joint bid to acquire the company.

Sidus Space, Inc. SIDU shares were also up, gaining 18% to $3.33 after the company disclosed its growing relationship with Teledyne Marine, a part of Teledyne Technologies, following a noteworthy Q2.

Equities Trading DOWN

AMTD Digital Inc. HKD shares tumbled 42% to $16.21 on continued volatility following the company's recent IPO.

Shares of High Tide Inc. HITI were down 21% to $1.65 after the company reported a C$10 million "bought deal" public offering..

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. RARE was down, falling 18% to $49.95. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and GeneTx Biotherapeutics LLC announced interim data from the Phase 1/2 study in pediatric patients with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of full maternal UBE3A gene deletion.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1% to $101.57, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,712.00.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $18.745 on Monday while copper fell 2% to $3.2785.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.9%. The German DAX gained 1%, French CAC 40 rose 0.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.4%.

Construction output in the Eurozone rose 2.9% year-over-year in May, following a revised 2.8% increase in the prior month. Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was confirmed at a record high level of 8.6% in June up from 8.1% in May.

The unemployment rate in the UK came in steady at 3.8% in the three months to May, while average weekly earnings including bonuses rose 6.2% year-over-year to GBP 601.

Economics

 

U.S. housing starts fell 2% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.559 million units in June, the lowest since September 2021. Building permits, meanwhile, dropped 0.6% to an annualized rate of 1.685 million in June, the weakest level since September last year.

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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 91,429,400 cases with around 1,049,270 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,783,060 cases and 525,780 deaths, while Brazil reported over 33,339,810 COVID-19 cases with 675,550 deaths. In total, there were at least 568,854,080 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,389,770 deaths.