Dow Jumps Over 150 Points; US Core PCE Price Inflation Eases

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones jumping more than 150 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.56% to 33,042.24 while the NASDAQ rose 0.55% to 12,079.22. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.50% to 4,071.28.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 1.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mullen Automotive, Inc. MULN, up 18%, and NaaS Technology Inc. NAAS, up 11%.
• In trading on Thursday, information technology rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The personal consumption expenditure price index in rose by 5% year-over-year in February, the lowest since September 2021. The US core PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, increased by 4.6% annually in February.

Equities Trading UP

• Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc. YMAB shares shot up 45% to $4.76 after the company posted a profit for the fourth quarter.
• Shares of IonQ, Inc. IONQ got a boost, shooting 25% to $6.35 after the company posted better-than-expected Q4 results.
• Toro Corp. TORO shares were also up, gaining 18% to $2.80.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Gorilla Technology Group Inc. GRRR shares dropped 67% to $3.8515.
• Shares of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. CSSE were down 38% to $1.98 after the company announced pricing for its $10.8 million underwritten public offering of common stock. Also, the company reported Q4 financial results.
• Pyxis Oncology, Inc. PYXS was down, falling 35% to $3.90. Pyxis Oncology recently reported a loss of $3.65 per share in FY22.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $75.25 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,997.20.

Silver traded up 0.9% to $24.225 on Thursday while copper rose 0.1% to $4.0930.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.3%. The German DAX gained 0.6%, French CAC 40 rose 0.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%.

The consumer price inflation rate in the Eurozone fell to 6.9% year-over-year in March, while unemployment rate remained at a record low level of 6.6% in February. The annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 7.7% in March from 9.1% in the prior month. The unemployment rate in Germany rose to 5.6% in March.

Spain reported a current account surplus of €3.3 billion in January versus a year-ago deficit of €3.1 billion. Producer prices in the France’s domestic markets declined 0.9% month-over-month in February. France's inflation rate fell to 5.6% year-over-year in March. The Nationwide House Price Index in the UK fell by 3.1% year-over-year in March. UK’s economy grew by 0.6% from a year ago in the fourth quarter, versus a preliminary estimate of 0.4% growth.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.93%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbing 0.45% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.36%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.78%.

China's current account surplus increased to $401.9 billion in 2022, up 14% from 2021. Infrastructure output in India rose 6% year-over-year in February. Retail sales in Hong Kong jumped 29.6% year-over-year in February. Japan's housing fell by 0.3% year-over-year in February.

Economics

• The personal consumption expenditure price index in rose by 5% year-over-year in February, the lowest since September 2021. The US core PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, increased by 4.6% annually in February.
• Personal income in the US increased by 0.3% from a month ago in February versus a 0.6% rise in January.
• Personal spending increased by 0.2% from a month ago in February.
• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised lower to 62 in March versus a preliminary reading of 67.

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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 106,206,050 cases with around 1,154,890 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,715,780 cases and 530,860 deaths, while France reported over 39,782,580 COVID-19 cases with 165,600 deaths. In total, there were at least 683,873,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,830,880 deaths.