Nasdaq Dips 90 Points; Walgreens Posts Upbeat Q2 Results

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 90 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.21% to 32,362.74 while the NASDAQ fell 0.77% to 11,678.39. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.37% to 3,962.87.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares jumped by 1.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. GRNT, up 13%, and Excelerate Energy, Inc. EE, up 10%.
• In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA reported better-than-expected Q2 adjusted EPS and sales results.

Walgreens Boots Alliance’s sales increased 3.3% year-over-year to $34.9 billion, up 4.5% on a constant currency basis, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $33.53 billion. Adjusted EPS reached $1.16, down 25.8% on a constant currency basis, which also beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.10.

Equities Trading UP

• Oscar Health, Inc. OSCR shares shot up 71% to $6.14 after the company announced the appointment of healthcare veteran Mark Bertolini as CEO effective April 3, 2023.
• Shares of Biomea Fusion, Inc. BMEA got a boost, shooting 85% to $28.49 after the company announced data from the initial cohorts of the ongoing Phase II study of BMF-219 in patients with type 2 diabetes; 100mg cohort 3 demonstrated an 89% response rate and 1% median reduction in HbA1c at day 28.
• Viking Therapeutics, Inc. VKTX shares were also up, gaining 63% to $14.86 after the company reported results from its Phase 1 trial of VK2735 for the potential treatment of various metabolic disorders.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. HRMY shares dropped 25% to $31.08 after Scorpion Capital issued a short report on the company.
• Shares of Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc. VORB were down 20% to $0.43. Virgin Orbit is extending its pause in operation to pursue investment, CNBC reported, citing a company-wide mail by CEO Dan Hart.
• Monopar Therapeutics Inc. MNPR was down, falling 52% to $1.4350 after the company announced it will be discontinuing its Validive Phase 2b/3 VOICE trial along with the active development of Validive after the company was informed the trial didn't meet the pre-defined threshold for efficacy.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $73.13 while gold traded up 1% at $1,973.20.

Silver traded up 1.1% to $23.405 on Tuesday while copper fell 0.1% to $4.0740.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.06%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.17% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.43%. The German DAX gained 0.09%, French CAC 40 rose 0.14% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.47%.

Consumer confidence in Italy climbed to 105.1 in March, recording the highest level since February 2022, while manufacturing confidence climbed to 104.2 in March. The manufacturing climate indicator in France declined to 104 in March from 105 a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.15%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbing 1.11% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.19%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.1%.

Retail sales in Australia increased by 0.2% from a month ago to AUD 35.14 billion in February, versus a revised 1.8% rise in the prior month.

Economics

• The US trade deficit in goods increased to $91.63 billion in February versus a revised $91.09 billion in the prior month.
• Wholesale inventories in the US rose 0.2% month-over-month in February versus a revised 0.5% decline in the previous month.
• The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 2.5% year-over-year in January, recording the smallest rise since November 2019.
• The FHFA house price index rose 0.2% from a month ago in January.
• The Manufacturing Activity Index in the Richmond area climbed to -5 in March from -16 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 106,109,140 cases with around 1,153,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,707,520 cases and 530,840 deaths, while France reported over 39,758,770 COVID-19 cases with 165,530 deaths. In total, there were at least 683,403,070 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,827,620 deaths.