Nasdaq Edges Lower; Unity Biotechnology Shares Plummet

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite trading lower on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.91% to 32,530.40 while the NASDAQ fell 0.09% to 11,813.90. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.55% to 3,992.68.

Check This Out: Wall Street's Most Accurate Analysts Say Hold These 3 Health Care Stocks With Over 3% Dividend Yields

Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares jumped by 2.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NGL Energy Partners LP NGL, up 10%, and Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V. VIST, up 10%.
• In trading on Monday, communication services shares fell by 1.2%.

Top Headline

The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index fell to -15.7 in March, versus prior reading of -13.5.

Equities Trading UP

• First Citizens BancShares, Inc. FCNCA shares shot up 51% to $880.49 after First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company entered an agreement to purchase all deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bank.
• Shares of Crown ElectroKinetics Corp. CRKN got a boost, shooting 19% to $0.1870 after the company announced its optics division added a third customer, expanding its US presence.
• Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. JNCE shares were also up, gaining 22% to $1.8411. Jounce Therapeutics entered into agreement to be acquired by Concentra Biosciences for $1.85 in cash per share plus contingent value rights.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Unity Biotechnology, Inc. UBX shares dropped 51% to $2.0150 after the company said its phase 2 ENVISION study did not meet its non-inferiority threshold due to strength in the control group.
• Shares of Pharming Group N.V. PHAR were down 20% to $12.10. The FDA approved Pharming Group’s Joenja (leniolisib) for activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta (PI3Kδ) syndrome (APDS) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older.
• YS Biopharma Co., Ltd. YS was down, falling 35% to $3.12 after the company reported interim Phase 2 safety and immunogenicity data for its PIKA recombinant Covid-19 vaccine.

Also Check This Out: Ethereum Edges Lower But Remains Above This Key Level; SingularityNET Becomes Top Loser

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.1% to $72.10 while gold traded down 1.4% at $1,956.10.

Silver traded down 0.9% to $23.14 on Monday while copper fell 0.1% to $4.0750.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.05%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.90% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1.29%. The German DAX gained 1.14%, French CAC 40 surged 0.90% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.21%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 3.2% year-over-year to EUR 6.86 trillion in February. The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany climbed to 93.3 in March from 91.1 in the prior month. UK’s CBI distributive trades survey’s retail sales balance fell to +1 in March compared to a reading of +2 in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.33%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.75% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.44%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.2%.

Exports from Hong Kong dropped 8.8% year-over-year to $286.2 billion in February, while imports declined 4.1% year-over-year to $331.6 billion. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan rose to 96.6 in January versus a preliminary reading of 96.5, while index of coincident economic indicators climbed to 96.4 in January versus a flash reading of 96.1.

Economics

The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index fell to -15.7 in March, versus prior reading of -13.5.

Now Read This: Around $3M Bet On This Basic Materials Stock? Check Out These 4 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Buying

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,102,020 cases with around 1,153,730 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,705,950 cases and 530,830 deaths, while France reported over 39,758,760 COVID-19 cases with 165,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 683,336,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,826,960 deaths.