Crude Oil Down Over 2%; General Motors Raises Profit Outlook

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 100 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.19% to 33,811.66 while the NASDAQ fell 0.87% to 11,932.83. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.66% to 4,109.56.

Check This Out: Bitcoin, Ethereum Record Losses; PancakeSwap Becomes Top Loser

Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer staples shares rose by 0.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included YanGuFang International Group Co., Ltd. YGF, up 7%, and Kimberly-Clark Corporation KMB, up 3%.
• In trading on Tuesday, energy shares dipped by 2.1%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported strong first quarter results, which exceeded expectations.

GM reported first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 11.1% year-on-year to $39.98 billion, beating the consensus of $38.95 billion. Adjusted EPS of $2.21 beat the analyst consensus of $1.71.

The company raised its 2023 adjusted EPS outlook from $6.00 - $7.00 to $6.35 - $7.35 versus the consensus of $6.13.

Equities Trading UP

• Virios Therapeutics, Inc. VIRI shares shot up 89% to $1.1790 after the company announced initial FDA feedback on its proposed IMC-1 Phase 3 program for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The company said the proposed program is considered acceptable based on initial FDA feedback pending review of the final chronic toxicology program results.
• Shares of Baudax Bio, Inc. BXRX got a boost, shooting 36% to $2.5491 after the company announced top-line final results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of BX1000 for neuromuscular blockade in patients undergoing elective surgery.
• Agrify Corporation AGFY shares were also up, gaining 67% to $0.3550 after the company announced that it will not consummate the warrant inducement transaction that Agrify had previously announced on April 19, 2023.

Equities Trading DOWN

• First Republic Bank FRC shares dropped 27% to $11.72 after the company announced a decline in deposits for the first quarter and said it will reduce its workforce by 20-25%.
• Shares of HomeStreet, Inc. HMST were down 32% to $11.84 following weak Q1 earnings.
• Vyant Bio, Inc. VYNT was down, falling 33% to $0.3679 as the company announced voluntary Nasdaq delisting and SEC deregistration.

Also Check This Out: Wall Street's Most Accurate Analysts Say Buy These 3 Energy Stocks Delivering High-Dividend Yields

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.6% to $76.75 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,996.90.

Silver traded down 2% to $24.80 on Tuesday while copper fell 2.8% to $3.8430.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.59%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.46% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.43% The German DAX fell 0.18%, French CAC 40 fell 0.82% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.19%.

Producer prices in Spain dropped 1% year-over-year in March versus a revised 8% increase in February.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.09%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.71% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.32%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.3%.

Hong Kong’s trade deficit widened to $40.6 billion in March from $37.3 billion in the year-ago month. Year-on-year, exports declined 1.5% to $367.2 billion.

Economics

• The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 0.4% year-over-year in February, recording the smallest growth since 2012, and versus a 2.6% increase in January.
• US house price index climbed by 0.5% from a month ago in February, the FHFA said.
• Sales of new single-family houses rose 9.3% month-over-month to an annualised rate of 683,000 in March.
• The Dallas Fed general business activity index for Texas' service sector rose to -14.4 in April versus -18 in March.
• The Manufacturing Activity Index in the Richmond area declined to -10 in April compared to previous month’s reading of -5.

Now Read This: Procter & Gamble, Crocs And These 2 Stocks Insiders Are Selling

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,580,790 cases with around 1,159,310 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,905,820 cases and 531,360 deaths, while France reported over 39,951,430 COVID-19 cases with 166,280 deaths. In total, there were at least 686,587,930 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,860,230 deaths.