S&P 500 Down Over 1%; Merck Increases 2024 Outlook

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling by around 250 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 1.55% to 37,864.79 while the NASDAQ fell 1.60% to 15,460.95. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.16% to 5,012.94.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares fell by just 0.2% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares dipped by 5.3%.

Top Headline

Merck & Co., Inc. MRK reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its 2024 guidance.

Merck posted adjusted earnings of $2.07 per share, beating market estimates of $1.88 per share. The company's sales came in at $15.775 billion versus expectations of $15.196 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Impinj, Inc. PI shares shot up 17% to $141.91 after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Ultralife Corporation ULBI got a boost, surging 18% to $10.33 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results.
• Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA shares were also up, gaining 52% to $2.4550 after HC Wainwright & Co initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and announced an $8 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

• ATN International, Inc. ATNI shares dropped 30% to $20.12 as the company posted weak quarterly sales and slashed FY24 revenue forecast.
• Shares of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. HTZ were down 24% to $4.4250 after the company mixed first-quarter financial results.
• Orion Group Holdings, Inc. ORN was down, falling 20% to $6.38 following weak quarterly sales.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $82.26 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,339.30.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $27.36 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.1% to $4.5525.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.79%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.29% while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.78% The German DAX fell 1.18% French CAC 40 fell 1.18% while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.07%.

Producer prices in Spain fell 8.2% year-over-year in March compared to a revised 8.5% decline in February. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany climbed to -24.2 heading into May versus a revised reading of -27.3 in the prior period. UK's car production fell 27.1% to 59,467 units for March.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 2.16%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.48%, China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.27% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.66%.

Hong Kong's trade deficit increased to $45.0 billion in March from $40.6 billion in the year-ago month. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan came in unchanged at 111.8 in February, while index of coincident economic indicators was revised higher to 111.6 in February versus a flash reading of 110.9.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 5,000 to 207,000 in the week ending April 20, compared to market estimates of 214,000.
• The U.S. economy grew an annualized 1.6% in the first quarter, marking a notable slowdown from the 3.4% rate in the final quarter of 2023. However, analysts were expecting a 2.5% growth.
• U.S. wholesale inventories fell by 0.4% month-over-month in March compared to a revised 0.4% gain in February.
• Pending home sales in the U.S. climbed by 3.4% month-over-month in March.
• The core price index for personal consumption expenditures increased by an annualized 3.7% in the first quarter versus a 2% gain in the prior three-month period.
• The EIA said US natural-gas supplies rose 92 billion cubic feet during the week ended April 19.

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