Dow, S&P 500 Edge Lower Following Powell's Comments

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower this morning, following comments from the Fed chief Jerome Powell.

The Dow traded down 0.13% to 33,248.66 while the NASDAQ fell 0.17% to 12,617.92. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.20% to 4,190.84.

Also check this: Bitcoin, Ethereum Record Losses Ahead Of Powell's Speech; Here Are The Top Crypto Movers For Friday

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Unitil Corporation UTL, up 1% and TransAlta Corporation TAC up 1%.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares dipped by 1.1%.

Top Headline

U.S. personal spending rose 0.1% month-over-month in July, while personal income increased 0.2%. The personal consumption expenditure price index declined 0.1% month-over-month in July after increasing 1% in June.

Equities Trading UP

Micro Focus International plc MFGP shares shot up 95% to $6.11 after the company reached an agreement with OpenText to be acquired for $6 billion.

 

Shares of Bright Minds Biosciences Inc. DRUG got a boost, shooting 20% to $3.4786. Bright Minds recently priced overnight marketed offering of 2.858 million units at $1.40 per unit.

 

Akili, Inc. AKLI shares were also up, gaining 24% to $5.13 after dropping 20% on Thursday.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Domo, Inc. DOMO shares tumbled 25% to $21.61 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 sales results and issued Q3 and FY23 sales guidance below analyst estimates. Additionally, multiple analysts lowered their price target on the stock.

Shares of Mobilicom Limited MOB were down 21% to $4.33 on possible profit taking after the stock surged yesterday following its IPO debut.

Twin Vee Powercats Co. VEEE was down, falling 18% to $4.55.

Also check out: Market Volatility Decreases Further As Investors Await Powell Speech

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $92.25, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,763.90.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $19.27 on Friday while copper rose 1.5% to $3.7545.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.7%. The German DAX declined 0.6%, French CAC 40 fell 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.2%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.5% year-over-year in July. Italian consumer confidence climbed by 3.5 points to 98.3 in August from 94.8 a month ago, while manufacturing confidence declined by 2.1 points to 104.3 in August.

The consumer confidence index in France rose to 82 in August from 80 in July, while GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany declined to a fresh record low level of -36.5 heading into September.

 

Economics

 

The US goods trade deficit shrank to $89.1 billion in July from a revised $98.6 billion in the prior month.

U.S. personal spending rose 0.1% month-over-month in July, while personal income increased 0.2%. The personal consumption expenditure price index declined 0.1% month-over-month in July after increasing 1% in June.

Wholesale inventories rose by 0.8% month-over-month to $902.9 billion in July.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised higher to 58.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 55.1.

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

Check out this: Investor Sentiment Improves With Powell's Speech In Focus

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 95,844,670 cases with around 1,068,110 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,389,170 cases and 527,550 deaths, while France reported over 34,428,730 COVID-19 cases with 153,800 deaths. In total, there were at least 604,479,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,483,560 deaths.