Nasdaq Drops 150 Points; AZZ Shares Plummet

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 150 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.08% to 29,178.15 while the NASDAQ fell 1.49% to 10,384.62. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.94% to 3,578.38.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares rose by 1.7% on Tuesday. Leading the sector was strength from e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. ELF and Rite Aid Corporation RAD.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares dipped by 0.3%.

Top Headline

ForgeRock, Inc. FORG announced it will be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $2.3 billion.

Equities Trading UP

• DICE Therapeutics, Inc. DICE shares shot up 64% to $40.37 after the company announced topline data from its Phase 1 clinical trial of DC-806. Clinical proof-of-concept in psoriasis patients achieved with a mean percentage reduction in PASI from baseline at 4 weeks of 43.7% in the high dose group.
• Shares of ForgeRock, Inc. FORG got a boost, shooting 49% to $22.58 after the company announced it will be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $2.3 billion.
• Laser Photonics Corporation LASE shares were also up, gaining 70% to $3.17 after the company announced it received an order from the U.S. Navy for delivery this month of an LPC-1000CTH CleanTech Laser Blasting System with an integrated water chiller for submarine MRO.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Orthofix Medical Inc. OFIX shares tumbled 20% to $14.71 after the company and SeaSpine announced they will combine in a merger of equals. The company also announced preliminary Q3 net sales.
• Shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RIGL were down 18% to $0.93. after the company received guidance from the FDA's review of its re-analysis of data from the FORWARD Phase 3 trial of fostamatinib for warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA). Based on the guidance, Rigel does not expect to file a supplemental marketing application for wAIHA, an autoimmune disorder characterized by the premature destruction of healthy red blood cells (hemolysis). Rigel also announced cutting its workforce by 16%, eliminating 30 positions, primarily in development and administration.
• AZZ Inc. AZZ was down, falling 14% to $33.51 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 adjusted EPS results. The company said it will not issue full-year fiscal year 2023 guidance at this time.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $89.59, while gold traded up 0.8% at $1,688.70.

Silver traded down 0.2% to $19.575 on Tuesday while copper rose 1% to $3.4635.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.56%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.06% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.78%. The German DAX declined 0.43%, French CAC 40 fell 0.13% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.87%.

The Bank of England widened its emergency bond buying operation to include purchases of inflation-linked gilts. The jobless rate in the UK declined to 3.5% in the three months to August, versus 3.6% in the earlier period, while average weekly earnings including bonuses rose by 6.0% year-over-year to GBP 617 in the same period. Industrial production in Italy surged by 2.3% from a month ago in August.

Economics

• The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index climbed to a four-month high of 92.1 in September from 91.8 in the previous month.
• The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index declined to 41.6 in October versus a five-month high level of 44.7 in September.

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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 98,572,010 cases with around 1,087,970 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,616,390 cases and 528,820 deaths, while France reported over 35,875,620 COVID-19 cases with 155,530 deaths. In total, there were at least 627,104,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,562,340 deaths.