Nasdaq Dips 300 Points; Johnson & Johnson Earnings Top Estimates

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 300 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.10% to 40,914.80 while the NASDAQ fell 1.63% to 18,208.05. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.98% to 5,611.77                                 .

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.5% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell by 2.3%.

Top Headline

Johnson & Johnson JNJ reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

The company posted adjusted EPS of $2.82, up 10.2% year-over-year, beating the consensus of $2.70. The pharma giant reported sales of $22.45 billion, up 4.3% year-over-year, beating the consensus of $22.31 billion.

Johnson & Johnson raised fiscal year 2024 operational sales guidance to $89.2 billion-$89.6 billion versus prior guidance of $88.7 billion-$89.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Aditxt, Inc. ADTX shares shot up 67% to $2.66. Aditxt and Evofem amended merger agreement.
• Shares of Locafy Limited LCFY got a boost, surging 41% to $7.69.
• Shimmick Corporation SHIM shares were also up, gaining 36% to $2.74 after the company received a $27.6 million subcontract for the Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant Ozonation Project.

Equities Trading DOWN

• ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Limited ASLN shares dropped 57% to $0.4813 after the company announced that its Singapore-incorporated, sole operating subsidiary has filed for voluntary liquidation.
• Shares of Cassava Sciences, Inc. SAVA were down 27% to $9.91 after announcing changes in executive leadership. The company named Rick Barry as Executive Chairman and Principal Executive Office and said Remi Barbier resigned as President, CEO, and Board Member.
• NaaS Technology Inc. NAAS was down, falling 14% to $4.0097.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $81.23 while gold traded up 0.2% at $2,473.50.

Silver traded down 1% to $31.155 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.5% to $4.4285.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.6%, Germany's DAX fell 0.6% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.5%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.2%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone eased to 2.5% in June from 2.6% in May. French current account deficit shrank to EUR 3.1 billion in May versus a revised EUR 3.5 billion in the prior month.

U.K. producer prices increased 1.4% year-over-year in June following a 1.7% rise in the prior month, while annual inflation rate came in steady at 2% in June.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.43%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.06% and China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.45%.

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell by 8.7% year-over-year in June following a revised 0.7% decline in May.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage applications climbed by 3.9% during the third week of July.
• U.S. housing starts increased by 3% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 1,314,000 in June compared to a revised 4.6% fall a month ago.
• Building permits in the U.S. climbed by 3.4% to an annual rate of 1.446 million in June.

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