Nasdaq Rises 50 Points; US Factory Orders Down 1.6% In January

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 50 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 33,471.14 while the NASDAQ rose 0.43% to 11,739.40. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 4,058.50.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Information technology shares rose 0.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Viasat, Inc. VSAT, up 7%, and Semantix, Inc. STIX, up 6%.
• In trading on Monday, materials shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

US factory orders dropped 1.6% in January, versus market expectations for a 1.8% decline.

Equities Trading UP

• BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. BBIO shares shot up 64% to $17.82 after the company announced positive data for its phase 2 study of Infigratinib in Achondroplasia.
• Shares of Azul S.A. AZUL got a boost, shooting 52% to $6.32 after the company announced a deal to reduce the immediate cash it must expend for leased property.
• Avalon GloboCare Corp. ALBT shares were also up, gaining 35% to $2.93.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. ACRS shares tumbled 44% to $7.16 after the company announced its Phase 2A study of Zunsemetinib for Hidradentis Suppurativa did not meet its primary or secondary endpoints.
• Shares of Embark Technology, Inc. EMBK were down 34% to $2.5250. On March 1, 2023, Embark Technology board approved a reduction in its current workforce by approximately 230 employees.
• Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR was down, falling 21% to $5.00 after the company published new data on its treatment to reduce cardiovascular risk.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $79.07 while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,857.20.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $21.21 on Monday while copper fell 0.2% to $4.0605.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.2%. The German DAX gained 0.5% French CAC 40 rose 0.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%.

Retail trade in the Eurozone rose by 0.3% from a month ago in January versus a revised 1.7% decline in December, while the S&P Global Eurozone construction PMI climbed to 47.6 in February from 46.1 a month ago.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI climbed to 54.6 in February from 48.4 in the previous month, while UK new car registrations climbed by 26.2% from a year ago to 74,441 units in February. The S&P Global Italy construction PMI rose to 48.9 in February from 48.2 a month ago. The S&P Global German construction PMI rose to 48.6 in February of from 43.3 in January, while France construction PMI declined to 45.2 from 48.4.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.17% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.19%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.7%.

Economics

US factory orders dropped 1.6% in January, versus market expectations for a 1.8% decline.

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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 105,396,810 cases with around 1,146,740 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,688,100 cases and 530,770 deaths, while France reported over 39,638,150 COVID-19 cases with 165,030 deaths. In total, there were at least 680,690,500 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,805,280 deaths.