Crude Oil Surges Over 1%; US Factory Orders Increase In February

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 1% on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 1.05% to 39,152.47 while the NASDAQ fell 1.17% to 16,205.37. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.89% to 5,196.96.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Energy shares jumped by 0.6% on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, health care shares fell by 1.7%.

 

Top Headline

 

U.S. factory orders increased by 1.4% from the prior month to $576.8 billion in February, following a revised 3.8% decline in January.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

VivoPower International PLC VVPR shares shot up 266% to $5.35 after the company's Tembo subsidiary announced it will merge with the Nasdaq-listed Cactus Acquisition Corp. 1 Limited.

Shares of VirTra, Inc. VTSI got a boost, surging 41% to $13.43 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

MSP Recovery, Inc. LIFW shares were also up, gaining 28% to $0.8520 after a 13G filing showed Palantir Technologies reported a 6.5% stake in the company as of March 22, 2024.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR shares dropped 76% to $3.1801 after the company commenced voluntary proceedings under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

Shares of Gritstone bio, Inc. GRTS were down 48% to $1.2150 after the company announced a $32.5 million underwritten public offering of 8,333,333 shares of common stock and accompanying common warrants at $1.50 per share and accompanying common warrant.

Verve Therapeutics, Inc. VERV was down, falling 37% to $8.04 amid the company pausing enrollment in its Heart-1 Phase 1b clinical trial after a participant experienced a Grade 3 drug-induced transient increase in serum alanine aminotransferase as well as a serious adverse event.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $85.08 while gold traded up 0.8% at $2,274.30.

Silver traded up 3.1% to $25.855 on Tuesday, while copper rose 0.5% to $4.0695.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.75%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.14% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.96% The German DAX fell 1.04% French CAC 40 fell 0.91% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.15%.

The HCOB manufacturing PMI for Eurozone rose to 46.1 in March versus a preliminary reading of 45.7. Median consumer expectations for Eurozone inflation over the next 12 months eased to 3.1% in February. The HCOB Germany manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 41.9 in March versus a preliminary level of 41.6, while French manufacturing PMI declined to 46.2 in March versus 47.1 a month ago.

The S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.3 in March versus a preliminary reading of 49.9, while consumer credit in the UK rose by £1.378 billion in February. The Nationwide House Price Index in the UK increased by 1.6% year-over-year in March following a 1.2% gain 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 gaining 2.36%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.08% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.2%.

The HSBC Indian manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 59.1 in March compared to a preliminary reading of 59.2.

 

Economics

 

U.S. factory orders increased by 1.4% from the prior month to $576.8 billion in February, following a revised 3.8% decline in January.

The number of job openings rose by 8,000 from the prior month to 8.756 million in February compared to market estimates of 8.75 million.

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