U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping more than 100 points on Friday.
The Dow traded up 0.69% to 33,086.43 while the NASDAQ rose 1.01% to 12,134.43. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.78% to 4,082.51.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
- Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the GRPN), up 20%.
- In trading on Friday, utilities rose by just 0.2%.
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. (NASDAQ:YMAB) shares shot up 76% to $5.80 after the company posted a profit for the fourth quarter.
- Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) got a boost, shooting 31% to $6.67 after the company posted better-than-expected Q4 results.
- Inpixon (NASDAQ:INPX) shares were also up, gaining 43% to $0.5274. Inpixon reported a 21% growth in revenue to $19.4 million for the 2022 fiscal year.
Equities Trading DOWN
- G Medical Innovations Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:GMVD) shares dropped 45% to $0.9061. G Medical Innovations Holdings announced pricing of $9.6 million public offering of 12 million shares of common stock at a price of $0.80 per share.
- Shares of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSSE) were down 41% to $1.8899 after the company announced pricing for its $10.8 million underwritten public offering of common stock. Also, the company reported Q4 financial results.
- Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VORB) was down, falling 39% to $0.2060 on reports the company is ceasing operations for the foreseeable future and cutting nearly 90% of its workforce.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $74.51 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,993.10.
Silver traded up 0.6% to $24.125 on Friday while copper fell 0.3% to $4.0805.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.78%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.27% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.42%. The German DAX gained 0.83%, French CAC 40 rose 0.99% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.52%.
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 Chicago Business Barometer rose to 43.80 points in March from 43.60 points in the previous month.
- 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.
