US Stocks Mixed; Retail Sales Drop 1% In March

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, following the release of economic reports.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.08% to 34,055.40 while the NASDAQ fell 0.10% to 12,153.84. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.13% to 4,151.57.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Financials shares rose by 1.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, up 7%, and Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft DB, up 4%.
• In trading on Friday, utilities fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Retail sales in the US dropped 1% month-over-month in March versus a revised 0.2% decline in February.

Equities Trading UP

• CXApp Inc. CXAI shares shot up 140% to $17.10 after gaining more than 345% on Thursday.
• Shares of Purple Innovation, Inc. PRPL got a boost, shooting 21% to $2.7093. Purple Innovation announced cooperative framework with Coliseum Capital.
• Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. MNMD shares were also up, gaining 14% to $3.53. Mind Medicine’s collaborators have released topline data from a double-blind, investigator-initiated trial evaluating lysergide major depressive disorder (MDD).

Equities Trading DOWN

• Catalent, Inc. CTLT shares dropped 25% to $47.09 after the company said its gene therapy manufacturing site in Harmans, MD experienced productivity issues and significantly reduced the expected revenue in fiscal Q3 associated with the site and will also impact Q4 sales.
• Shares of T Stamp Inc. IDAI were down 27% to $4.03 after the company announced pricing of a $5.2 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement priced at-the-market.
• Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. PESI was down, falling 20% to $7.86 after the company issued an update on recent contract awards.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $82.42 while gold traded down 1% at $2,034.80.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $25.99 on Friday while copper rose 1.1% to $4.1690.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%. The German DAX rose 0.4%, French CAC 40 rose 0.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.7%.

Spanish annual consumer price inflation came in at 3.3% in March compared to 6% in February, while annual inflation rate in France fell to a six-month low level of 5.7% in March. Annual wholesale price inflation in Germany eased to 2% in March.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.46% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.60%.

Total passenger car sales in India came in at 292,030 in March 2023, little changed versus the prior month. Singapore’s GDP rose by 0.1% year-over-year in Q1, versus a 2.1% expansion in the previous period.

Economics

• Retail sales in the US dropped 1% month-over-month in March versus a revised 0.2% decline in February.
• The price index for US imports declined 0.6% from a month ago in March, while export prices dropped 0.3% in March.

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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 106,455,740 cases with around 1,158,010 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,797,260 cases and 531,060 deaths, while France reported over 39,878,140 COVID-19 cases with 165,910 deaths. In total, there were at least 685,458,800 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,841,400 deaths.