Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Drops Over 100 Points; Hilltop Holdings Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 100 points on Monday.

The Dow traded down 0.42% to 32,837.09 while the NASDAQ rose 0.03% to 12,338.47. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.39% to 4,115.72.

Also check this: Executives Buy Around $1.6M Of 4 Penny Stocks

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 1.9% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Redbox Entertainment Inc. RDBX, up 39% and Luokung Technology Corp. LKCO up 14%.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI dropped for a second straight month to 55.4 in April from 57.1 in March. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 57.6.

Equities Trading UP

Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH shares shot up 18% to $30.16 after the company announced a program to buyback up to $400 million of stock.

Shares of Accolade, Inc. ACCD got a boost, shooting 25% to $6.97 after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock from Underweight to Equal-Weight and announced a $6 price target.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN shares were also up, gaining 31% to $3.9650 after the company announced a $70.5 million planned capital infusion through debt and equity financings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Global Cord Blood Corporation CO shares tumbled 29% to $2.4336. Global Cord Blood will acquire Cellenkos Inc and the rights to develop and commercialize all of its existing and future products worldwide.

Shares of First Wave BioPharma, Inc. FWBI were down 36% to $0.3947 after the company reported data from its Phase 2 RESERVOIR trial of FW-COV, which showed FW-COV's ability to remove the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the digestive tract did not demonstrate statistical significance.

Zosano Pharma Corporation ZSAN was down, falling 21% to $1.50 after the company announced it has suspended its M207 program and implemented a workforce reduction impacting 40% of remaining employees.

Also check out: American Express And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7% to $101.89, while gold traded down 2.5% to $1,863.60.

Silver traded down 2.5% Monday to $22.515 while copper fell 3.9% to $4.2355.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.09%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.28%. The German DAX dipped 0.57%, French CAC 40 fell 1.13% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.11%.

The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 55.5 in April from an initial estimate of 55.3. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone dropped to -22 in April, recording the worst since April 2020, while services confidence indicator fell to 13.5 in April from 13.6 in March. The economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone dropped for a second straight month to 105 in April, notching the weakest reading since February 2021.

The unemployment rate in Italy fell to 8.3% in March from 8.5% in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI declined to 54.5 in April from 55.8 in the previous month. The S&P Global French manufacturing PMI increased to 55.7 in April from a five-month low level of 54.7 in March, while manufacturing PMI for Germany rose to 54.6 in April from a preliminary reading of 54.1.

Economics

The S&P Global manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 59.2 in April from a preliminary reading of 59.7, but remained above the March’s level of 58.8.

The ISM manufacturing PMI dropped for a second straight month to 55.4 in April from 57.1 in March. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 57.6.

US construction spending rose 0.1% for March.

Check out this: Executives Buy More Than $32M Of 3 Stocks

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 83,083,420 cases with around 1,020,850 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,082,500 cases and 523,860 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,454,490 COVID-19 cases with 663,560 deaths. In total, there were at least 513,670,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,262,090 deaths.