US Stocks Open Lower; Dow Drops Over 200 Points

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 200 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.82% to 30,026.56 while the NASDAQ fell 0.72% to 11,068.08. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.78% to 3,753.79.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.8% on Thursday. Leading the sector was strength from SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. SMHI and Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. NGS.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 2.3%.

Top Headline

 

US initial jobless claims rose by 29,000 to 219,000 in the week that ended October 1st, above market expectations of 203,000.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

• Pineapple Energy Inc. PEGY shares shot up 36% to $3.74 after jumping 93% on Wednesday. Pineapple Energy recently named Eric Ingvaldson as new Chief Financial Officer.
• Shares of Atlis Motor Vehicles, Inc. AMV got a boost, shooting 36% to $17.04.
• HeartBeam, Inc. BEAT shares were also up, gaining 32% to $6.01 after the company announced it expanded its product portfolio pipeline to include smartwatch connectivity.

 

 

Equities Trading DOWN

• Jowell Global Ltd. JWEL shares tumbled 19% to $2.25. Jowell Global recently posted 1H loss of $0.30 per share.
• Shares of Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. CNTQ were down 29% to $15.65 after jumping around 103% on Wednesday.
• Top Ships Inc. TOPS was down, falling 26% to $7.33 after jumping 82% on Wednesday. TOP Ships recently announced 1H FY22 revenue of $38.8 million.

 

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $88.13, while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,720.20.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $20.45 on Thursday while copper fell 0.6% to $3.4790.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1%. The German DAX dropped 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.2%.

The S&P Global Eurozone construction PMI rose to 45.3 in September from 44.2 in the previous month, recording contraction for the fifth straight month. The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI climbed to 52.3 in September from 49.2 in the prior month.

Passenger car registrations in France surged 5.5% year-over-year to 141,142 units in September, while construction PMI rose to 49.1 in September from 48.2 a month ago. German construction PMI declined to 41.8 in September from 42.6 in August, while factory orders in Germany slipped 2.4% month-over-month in August. The S&P Global Italy construction PMI surged to 46.7 in September from 41.2 in August. Industrial production in Spain climbed 5.5% year-over-year in August.

 

Economics

 

• US-based companies announced plans to reduce 29,989 jobs from their payrolls during the month of September.
• US initial jobless claims rose by 29,000 to 219,000 in the week that ended October 1st, above market expectations of 203,000.
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve board governor Lisa Cook is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is set to speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 6:30 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 98,411,240 cases with around 1,086,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,604,460 cases and 528,740 deaths, while France reported over 35,639,690 COVID-19 cases with 155,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 625,040,080 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,555,810 deaths.