Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; US Producer Prices Increase 0.8% In February

U.S. stocks opened higher this morning, with the Dow Jones surging more than 200 points on Tuesday.

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.69% to 33,172.42 while the NASDAQ rose 0.78% to 12,679.19. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.70% to 4,202.28.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed by 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Yatsen Holding Limited YSG, up 5% and US Foods Holding Corp. USFD up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell by 4.6%.

Top Headline

US producer prices rose 0.8% from a month ago in February, versus a revised 1.2% increase in the previous month and slightly below analysts’ estimates of 0.9%.

Equities Trading UP

Incannex Healthcare Limited IXHL shares shot up 209% to $70.85 after jumping 54% on Monday. Incannex Healthcare recently completed a preliminary analysis of data from its Phase 2 trial of a cannabinoid combination product, IHL-42X, for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

Shares of Butterfly Network, Inc. BFLY got a boost, shooting 15% to $4.3091. FUJIFILM Sonosite recently filed patent infringement lawsuit against Butterfly Network.

AerSale Corporation ASLE shares were also up, gaining 15% to $16.45 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 adjusted EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. EVLV shares tumbled 41% to $1.7713 after the company reported Q4 results and issued weak FY22 sales outlook. Stifel downgraded Evolv Technologies from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $10 to $2.

Shares of Better Therapeutics, Inc. BTTX were down 33% to $2.72. Better Therapeutics said data from its pivotal trial of BT-001, an investigational PDT platform that is designed to use digitally delivered nCBT to treat type 2 diabetes, demonstrated clinically meaningful and statistically significant results in improving glycemic control by reducing A1c 0.4% versus the control group receiving standard of care.

ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ANIP was down, falling 22% to $27.85 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings and issued weak FY22 sales forecast.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.3% to $97.54, while gold traded down 1.5% to $1,932.10.

Silver traded down 1.5% Tuesday to $24.92 while copper fell 0.7% to $4.4915.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%. The German DAX dropped 0.9%, French CAC 40 dropped 0.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.5%.

French consumer price inflation rate accelerated to 3.6% year-over-year in February from 2.9% in the prior month. The UK unemployment rate fell to 3.9% during the three months to January 2022, recording the lowest level in two years, while number of people in work dropped by 12,000 on quarter to 32.493 million.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy meeting today.

US producer prices rose 0.8% from a month ago in February

The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index dropped 15 points to a reading of -11.8 in March.

The Treasury International Capital report for January will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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Check out the full economic calendar here

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 81,216,260 cases with around 991,030 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,996,060 cases and 516,000 deaths, while Brazil reported over 29,382,190 COVID-19 cases with 655,320 deaths. In total, there were at least 460,312,530 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,068,420 deaths.