Nasdaq Down Over 50 Points; Colgate-Palmolive Posts Upbeat Results

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling over 50 points on Friday

The Dow traded up 0.05% to 38,069.66 while the NASDAQ fell 0.4% to 15,447.78. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.15% to 4,886.79.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Health care shares rose by 0.5% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell by 1.2%.

 

Top Headline

 

Colgate-Palmolive Company CL reported upbeat fourth-quarter financial results.

Colgate-Palmolive reported fourth-quarter FY23 sales growth of 7% year-on-year to $4.95 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Base Business (non-GAAP) EPS of 87 cents beat the analyst consensus of 80 cents.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

AppFolio, Inc. APPF shares shot up 26% to $219.29 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued guidance.

Shares of Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. CRBP got a boost, surging 317% to $35.27 after the company announced data from the first-in-human clinical study of CRB-701 is being presented as a poster by its development partner CSPC Pharmaceutical at ASCO GU 2024.

eHealth, Inc. EHTH shares were also up, gaining 23% to $6.89 after the company announced preliminary results for the fourth quarter.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Yoshitsu Co., Ltd TKLF shares dropped 61% to $0.3031 after the company announced pricing of $4.0 million registered direct offering and private placement.

Shares of Nuvve Holding Corp. NVVE were down 29% to $3.5510 after the company filed for a public offering of 2.3 million shares of common stock, Series A warrants, Series B warrants and Series C warrants.

Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA was down, falling 29% to $3.6350 after the company announced pricing of its $7 million public offering.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $77.71 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,017.20.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $22.87 on Friday while copper fell 0.4% to $3.8525.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.11%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.40% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.20% The German DAX rose 0.32% French CAC 40 climbed 2.28% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.73%.

Bank lending to households in the Eurozone rose by 0.3% year-over-year to EUR 6.86 trillion in December. Spain's unemployment rate fell to 11.76% in the fourth quarter from 11.84% in the prior quarter.

The consumer confidence indicator in France rose to 91 in January from 89 in the prior month, while the GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany declined to -29.7 heading into February versus a revised reading of -25.4 in January.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 1.34%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declining 1.60% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.14%.

The index of leading economic indicators in Japan was revised lower to 107.6 in November versus the preliminary reading of 107.7, while index of coincident economic indicators rose to 114.6 in November from a flash reading of 114.5.

 

Economics

 

The headline PCE annual inflation rate held at 2.6% in December, matching both the previous and expected rate of 2.6%. On a monthly basis, the PCE price index rebounded with a 0.2% increase, recovering from a 0.1% decline in November and matching the predicted 0.2% rise.

U.S. personal spending rose by 0.7% from a month ago in December, while personal income rose by 0.3%.

U.S. pending home sales surged 8.3% month-over-month in December, beating market estimates of a 1.5% increase, and compared to a revised 0.3% decline in November.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 2 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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