Dow Dips Over 300 Points; S&P 500 Down 1.5%

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 300 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 1.08% to 31,906.55 while the NASDAQ fell 1.85% to 11,128.50. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.50% to 3,859.51

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer staples shares fell by just 0.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RLX Technology Inc. RLX, up 16%, and Limoneira Company LMNR, up 4%.
• In trading on Friday, real estate shares dipped by 3.2%.

Top Headline

The US economy unexpectedly added 311,000 jobs in February, well above market estimates of 205,000, and compared to revised 504,000 in January.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in February versus a 50-year low of 3.4% recorded in January.

Equities Trading UP

• Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. BNED shares shot up 6% to $1.8296 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly sales.
• Shares of PLAYSTUDIOS, Inc. MYPS got a boost, shooting 19% to $4.1332 after reporting upbeat quarterly results.
• Heritage Global Inc. HGBL shares were also up, gaining 12% to $2.76 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Allbirds, Inc. BIRD shares tumbled 46% to $1.2850 after the company announced weaker-than-expected Q4 results. Allbirds also named Annie Mitchell as Chief Financial Officer.
• Shares of Loyalty Ventures Inc. LYLT were down 61% to $0.2260 after the company announced bankruptcy filings and plans to delist from the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
• Alto Ingredients, Inc. ALTO was down, falling 30% to $1.9850 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $76.61 while gold traded up 1.7% at $1,865.30.

Silver traded up 1.6% to $20.49 on Friday while copper fell 0.5% to $4.0185.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.35%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.67% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.47%. The German DAX dropped 1.31% French CAC 40 fell 1.30% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.55%.

Italian industrial producer prices climbed 11.1% year-over-year in January, the least since June 2021. Retail sales in Spain rose by 5.5% year-over-year in January. French trade deficit shrank to EUR 12.9 billion in January from EUR 14.9 billion a month ago. German annual inflation rate was confirmed at 8.7% for February.

Industrial production in the UK dropped 0.3% month-over-month in January versus a 0.3% growth in the previous month, while trade deficit narrowed to £5.86 billion in January from £7.15 billion a month ago. The British economy grew 0.3% month-over-month during January.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 1.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 3.04% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.40%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.1%.

Auto sales in China jumped by 13.5% year-over-year to around 1.98 million units in February compared to a 35% drop in the prior month. The Bank of Japan maintained its key short-term interest rate unchanged at -0.1% at its recent meeting. Producer prices in Japan rose by 8.2% year-over-year in February.

Economics

• The US economy unexpectedly added 311,000 jobs in February, well above market estimates of 205,000, and compared to revised 504,000 in January.
• Average hourly earnings for employees on US private nonfarm payrolls increased 0.2% to $33.09 in February.
• The unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in February versus a 50-year low of 3.4% recorded in January.

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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 105,547,760 cases with around 1,148,390 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,689,510 cases and 530,770 deaths, while France reported over 39,639,110 COVID-19 cases with 165,070 deaths. In total, there were at least 681,285,050 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,810,270 deaths.