Nasdaq Down 80 Points; VirTra Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 80 points on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.89% to 33,571.43 while the NASDAQ fell 0.66% to 12,142.07. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.17% to 4,116.15.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares jumped by 4.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nine Energy Service, Inc. NINE, up 15%, and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT, up 19%.
• In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 46.3 in March versus a reading of 47.7 in February, missing market estimates of 47.5.

Equities Trading UP

• VirTra, Inc. VTSI shares shot up 23% to $4.9373 after reporting a profit for the fourth quarter
• Shares of Heska Corporation HSKA got a boost, shooting 20% to $117.56 after Mars announced it would acquire the company for $120/share.
• InterCure Ltd. INCR shares were also up, gaining 25% to $2.55 after the company reported record fiscal year 2022 revenue of $150 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

• OncoSec Medical Incorporated ONCS shares dropped 52% to $1.2413 after the company announced the primary endpoint of the overall response rate from the Phase 2 KEYNOTE-695 clinical trial was not met.
• Shares of Palisade Bio, Inc. PALI were down 34% to $2.3294 after the company announced a $6 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement priced above the market under Nasdaq rules.
• Ascendis Pharma A/S ASND was down, falling 31% to $74.41 after the FDA identified deficiencies in the company's New Drug Application for Transcon PTH.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 6.4% to $80.48 while gold traded up 0.8% at $2,001.80.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $24.030 on Thursday while copper fell 1.2% to $4.0475.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, trimmed oil production by 1.16 million barrels per day beginning May, in a surprising move.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.03%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.54% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.81%. The German DAX fell 0.31%, French CAC 40 rose 0.32% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.24%.

The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 47.3 in March from a preliminary reading of 47.1. The S&P Global/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI rose to 47.9 in March versus the flash estimate of 48.0.

German manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 44.7 in March versus a preliminary level of 44.4, while French manufacturing PMI fell to 47.3 in March from a preliminary estimate of 47.7.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.52%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbing 0.04% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.72%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.2%.

The S&P Global India manufacturing PMI climbed to a three-month high of 56.4 in March. Retail sales in Australia rose by 0.2% month-over-month to AUD 35.14 billion for February. The au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing PMI rose to 49.2 in March versus February’s reading of 47.7.

Economics

• The S&P Global manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.2 in March compared to the flash reading of 49.3.
• The ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 46.3 in March versus a reading of 47.7 in February, missing market estimates of 47.5.
• Construction spending fell by 0.1% month-over-month to an annual rate of $1.844 trillion in February.

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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 106,249,740 cases with around 1,155,320 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,722,600 cases and 530,880 deaths, while France reported over 39,806,280 COVID-19 cases with 165,670 deaths. In total, there were at least 684,104,570 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,832,410 deaths.