Dow Tumbles Over 500 Points; ECB Raises Rates By 50 bps

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 500 points after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 bps on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.62% to 33,417.56 while the NASDAQ fell 1.97% to 10,951.28. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.71% to 3,927.00.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell by just 0.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd. GNE, up 2%, and Azure Power Global Limited AZRE, up 4%.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares tumbled by 2.4%.

Top Headline

The ECB increased interest rates by 50 bps during its latest meeting, announcing a fourth rate hike.

Equities Trading UP

• Clearmind Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: CMND) shares shot up 36% to $4.33. Clearmind Medicine’s CEO, Dr. Adi Zuloff-Shani, issued a letter to shareholders.
• Shares of IMV Inc. IMV got a boost, shooting 31% to $2.82 after the company announced initial data from the ongoing Phase 2B VITALIZE trial in patients with r/r DLBCL.
• Icosavax, Inc. ICVX shares were also up, gaining 27% to $11.35. Icosavax shares jumped 112% on Wednesday after the company provided a six-month immunogenicity update from its Phase 1/1b trial of IVX-121 against respiratory syncytial virus.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Third Harmonic Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRD) shares tumbled 76% to $4.7185 after the company announced discontinuation of its Phase 1b study of THB001 in chronic inducible urticaria.
• Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX were down 20% to $13.86 after the company announced a proposed $125 million public offering of common stock.
• MicroAlgo Inc. MLGO was down, falling 18% to $2.47.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $76.59 while gold traded down 1.3% at $1,795.40.

Silver traded down 2.2% to $23.60 on Thursday while copper fell 1.3% to $3.8290.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.5%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.6%. The German DAX dropped 3%, French CAC 40 fell 3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.7%.

The ECB increased interest rates by 50 bps during its latest meeting, announcing a fourth rate hike. The Bank of England increased interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.5% during its December meeting.

Spain's trade deficit widened to EUR 6.85 billion in October from EUR 3.36 billion in the year-
ago month. The annual inflation rate in France came in at 6.2% in November. Wholesale prices in Germany accelerated 14.9% year-over-year in November.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with the Japan’s Nikkei dropping 0.37% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 1.55%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.25%.

The annual wholesale price inflation rate in India eased to 5.85% in November from 8.39% in the previous month. Industrial production in Japan dropped by 3.2% month-over-month in October following a final 1.7% decline a month ago. Japan's core machinery orders rose 5.4% month-over-month in October, while trade deficit surged to JPY 2,027.4 billion in November.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority increased the base rate by 50 basis points to 4.75%. China's unemployment rate climbed to a six-month high of 5.7% in November, while industrial production rose 2.2% year-over-year in November. China's retail trade dropped by 5.9% year-over-year in November.

Economics

• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased 6 points to a reading of -13.8 in December.
• US initial jobless claims dropped by 20,000 to 211,000 in the week ending December 10.
• The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell 16 points from a month ago to -11.2 in December.
• Retail sales fell 0.6% month-over-month in November.
• Industrial production in the US fell by 0.2% month-over-month in November versus a 0.1% drop in October.

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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 101,589,370 cases with around 1,111,660 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,676,530 cases and 530,660 deaths, while France reported over 38,682,980 COVID-19 cases with 160,120 deaths. In total, there were at least 655,803,840 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,665,180 deaths.