Dow Jumps 300 Points; Crude Oil Down 1%

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 300 points on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.94% to 32,210.33 while the NASDAQ rose 1.52% to 11,307.74. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 1% to 3,900.16.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares rose by 3.6% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Via Renewables, Inc. VIA, up 8%, and Kenon Holdings Ltd. KEN, up 7%.
• In trading on Monday, financials shares dipped by 1.7%.

Top Headline

Bluegreen Vacations Holding Corporation BVH reported results for the fourth quarter.

Bluegreen Vacations posted adjusted earnings of $0.61 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.56 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $237.97 million versus expectations of $208.46 million.

Equities Trading UP

• Provention Bio, Inc. PRVB shares shot up 258% to $23.99 after Sanofi announced it will acquire the company for $25 per share in cash.
• Shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. ZIM got a boost, shooting 18% to $23.05 as the company reported a fourth-quarter FY22 sales decline of 37% year-on-year to $2.19 billion, beating the consensus of $2.11 billion.
• Calliditas Therapeutics AB CALT shares were also up, gaining 36% to $23.10 after the company announced the primary endpoint was successfully met in the Phase 2 NefIgArd trial evaluating Nefecon in IgA nephropathy.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Western Alliance Bancorporation WAL shares tumbled 51% to $24.15. Shares of several bank stocks traded lower following the recent closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the largest bank failures since 2008.
• Shares of First Republic Bank FRC were down 69% to $25.62 after the company said it improved its liquidity profile by increasing its borrowing facility from the Federal Reserve and JP Morgan.
• Customers Bancorp, Inc. CUBI was down, falling 45% to $12.58. Shares of several bank stocks traded lower following the recent closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the largest bank failures since 2008.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $75.81 while gold traded up 2.6% at $1,915.20.

Silver traded up 6.9% to $21.93 on Monday while copper rose 0.4% to $4.0490.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.19% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 3.34%. The German DAX dropped 2.83% French CAC 40 fell 2.7% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 3.72%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 1.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.95% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.20%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.5%.

The business survey index of large manufacturing firms in Japan declined to -10.5% in the first quarter compared to -3.6% in the earlier quarter.

Economics

There were no major US economic releases Monday.

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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 105,602,990 cases with around 1,148,780 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,690,930 cases and 530,780 deaths, while France reported over 39,655,930 COVID-19 cases with 165,160 deaths. In total, there were at least 681,567,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,811,980 deaths.