Dow Falls 150 Points; US Trade Gap Widens In December

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping over 150 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.46% to 33,779.00 while the NASDAQ fell 0.08% to 12,505.75. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.28% to 4,111.75.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Information technology shares rose by 0.6% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Intapp, Inc. INTA, up 6%, and Intapp, Inc. VRNS, up 5%.
• In trading on Tuesday, consumer staples shares dipped by 1.2%.

Top Headline

Imports to the US increased by $4.2 billion to $317.6 billion in December, while exports fell by $2.2 billion to $250.2 billion. The trade deficit in the US increased to $67.4 billion in December, versus a revised $61 billion in the prior month.

Equities Trading UP

• Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. KPRX shares shot up 56% to $5.11 after the company announced it received investigational new drug application approval for a Phase 2 study of KIO-101 for the treatment of the Ocular Presentation of autoimmune diseases.
• Shares of Oak Street Health, Inc. OSH got a boost, shooting 31% to $33.97 following a Wall Street Journal report suggesting CVS is nearing a $10.5 billion deal to acquire the company.
• Innovative Eyewear, Inc. LUCY shares were also up, gaining 32% to $3.35. Innovative Eyewear announced the launch of Lucyd Lyte 2.0 audio eyewear line.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY shares tumbled 43% to $3.3250 after the company announced a proposed $225 million offering of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock and warrants.
• Shares of Holley Inc. HLLY were down 28% to $2.4650 after the company reported preliminary Q4 and FY22 net sales results below estimates and announced a CEO transition. Also, Telsey Advisory Group downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered its price target from $5 to $3.
• My Size, Inc. MYSZ was down, falling 30% to $2.00 after the company announced it received a Notice of Patent Allowance in Canada for its AI & algorithm-driven measurement solution.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $74.35 while gold traded up 0.2% at $1,881.10.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $22.265 on Monday while copper fell 0.4% to $4.0390.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.04%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.27% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.11%. The German DAX fell 0.39% French CAC 40 fell 0.22% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.43%.

France's government budget deficit fell to EUR 152 billion from EUR 171 billion in the year-ago period, while current account deficit in the country widened to EUR 8.5 billion in December. Industrial production in Spain climbed by 0.6% year-over-year in December.

The Halifax house price index in the UK rose by 1.9% year-over-year in January, while industrial production in Germany fell by 3.1% month-over-month in December.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.36% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.29%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.37%.

China's foreign exchange reserves increased to $3.184 trillion at the end of January. The Reserve Bank of Australia increased the cash rate by 25bps to 3.35% at its recent meeting. Foreign exchange reserves in Japan rose to $1.25 trillion in January.

Economics

Imports to the US increased by $4.2 billion to $317.6 billion in December, while exports fell by $2.2 billion to $250.2 billion. The trade deficit in the US increased to $67.4 billion in December, versus a revised $61 billion in the prior month.

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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 104,509,260 cases with around 1,136,440 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,683,540 cases and 530,740 deaths, while France reported over 39,543,110 COVID-19 cases with 164,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 676,500,800 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,773,750 deaths.