Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Down 1%; Icosavax Shares Plummet

U.S. stocks pared gains midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.02% to 34,715.99 while the NASDAQ fell 1.02% to 14,045.00. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.17% to 4,512.35.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares jumped by 1.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included X Financial XYF, up 4% and Medallion Financial Corp. MFIN up 3%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The pending home sales index fell 4.1% for February, versus analysts’ expectations for a 1% growth.

 

Equities Trading UP

Clever Leaves Holdings Inc. CLVR shares shot up 34% to $2.12 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 sales results and reaffirmed FY22 guidance.

Shares of Cutera, Inc. CUTR got a boost, shooting 12% to $51.28 after the company announced it received FDA 510(k) clearance of AviClear, a designation for the treatment of mild, moderate, and severe acne.

Joby Aviation, Inc. JOBY shares were also up, gaining 21% to $6.43 following better-than-expected Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Icosavax, Inc. ICVX shares tumbled 55% to $5.63 after the company reported the results from its Phase 1/2 trial for IVX-441 against SARS-CoV-2 showed the level of response was lower than expected and inconsistent with known data on the company's platform and VLP technology.

Shares of The Honest Company, Inc. HNST were down 30% to $4.23 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

MEI Pharma, Inc. MEIP was down, falling 59% to $0.7454 after the company provided an update on its PI3K inhibitor drug candidate zandelisib following a meeting with the FDA. The company does not plan to submit an FDA marketing application based on the single arm Phase 2 TIDAL study, following discouragement from the agency. Several analysts also downgraded the stock.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.6% to $109.37, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,951.50.

Silver traded down 1.2% Friday to $25.605 while copper fell 0.4% to $4.7245.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%. The German DAX gained 0.6%, French CAC 40 rose 0.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.7%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone rose 4.4% year-over-year in February. Spanish gross domestic product expanded by 2.2% on quarter during the fourth quarter, while producer price inflation increased to a new record high of 40.7% year-over-year in February from 35.7% in the previous month.

Retail sales in the UK dropped 0.3% in February following a 1.9% growth in January, while GfK consumer confidence indicator declined to its lowest level in 16 months in March.

Economics

 

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was revised lower to 59.4 in March from a preliminary reading of 59.7, recording the weakest reading since August 2011.

The pending home sales index fell 4.1% for February, versus analysts’ expectations for a 1% growth.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 81,565,950 cases with around 1,002,250 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,016,370 cases and 516,780 deaths, while Brazil reported over 29,767,680 COVID-19 cases with 658,360 deaths. In total, there were at least 478,323,110 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,134,520 deaths.