Nasdaq Drops Around 200 Points; Hanger Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 200 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.19% to 31,976.14 while the NASDAQ fell 1.65% to 11,860. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.74% to 3,969.42.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NextEra Energy Partners, LP NEP, up 3% and NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE up 2.5%.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 4.1%.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and lowered its guidance.

Verizon posted adjusted earnings of $1.31 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $1.32 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $33.80 billion, versus expectations of $33.77 billion.

Verizon lowered its FY22 adjusted EPS guidance from $5.40-$5.55 to $5.10-$5.25.

 

Equities Trading UP

Pagaya Technologies Ltd. PGY shares shot up 96% to $10.49. Pagaya Technologies is expected to announce its Q2 earnings on August 16, 2022.

Shares of Yoshitsu Co., Ltd TKLF got a boost, shooting 39% to $2.1550 after the company announced it will acquire Tokyo Lifestyle Limited for approximately $2.8 million.

Hanger, Inc. HNGR shares were also up, gaining 25% to $18.41 after the company announced it will be acquired by Patient Square Capital for $18.75 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Snap Inc. SNAP shares tumbled 39% to $10.04 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results, announced a reduction in its hiring rate and did not provide guidance. Several analysts downgraded the stock following the report.

Shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. KPRX were down 40% to $0.1468 after the company reported pricing of $5.2 million underwritten public offering.

VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. VTGN was down, falling 86% to $0.1532 as the company announced topline results from its PALISADE-1 Phase 3 trial of PH94B for the acute treatment of social anxiety disorder.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $97.32, while gold traded up 1% to $1,730.70.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $18.76 on Friday while copper rose 2.6% to $3.3835.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.37%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.15% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5%. The German DAX gained 0.17%, French CAC 40 rose 0.27% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.2%.

Retail sales in the UK fell 0.1% month-over-month in June. The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 in July, while services PMI dropped to 50.6 in July from 53 in June.

Economics

US manufacturing PMI dropped to 52.3 in July from previous reading of 52.70, while services PMI tumbled to 47.00 from 52.70.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 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 91,942,740 cases with around 1,051,230 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,847,060 cases and 525,930 deaths, while Brazil reported over 33,506,280 COVID-19 cases with 676,550 deaths. In total, there were at least 572,887,450 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,398,670 deaths.