Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Jumps 300 Points; Aurora Cannabis Shares Plunge

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping around 300 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.10% to 32,995.10 while the NASDAQ rose 2.67% to 12,054.39. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.81% to 4,131.14.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 2.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN), up 19% and Applied Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLD) up 18%.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.5%.

Top Headline

US goods trade deficit shrank to $105.9 billion in April from a revised record high of $125.9 billion in the previous month, as exports rose 3.1% to a fresh all-time high of $173.9 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCT) shares shot up 64% to $1.3410. Oncternal Therapeutics presented updated interim data for zilovertamab in combination with ibrutinib at ASCO 2022.

Shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (NASDAQ:RRGB) got a boost, shooting 24% to $10.65 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 adjusted EPS and sales results.

Allarity Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLR) shares were also up, gaining 29% to $2.65 after Ladenburg Thalmann initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and an $8 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) shares tumbled 54% to $7.00 after the company reported results from its C-144-01 clinical study in patients with advanced melanoma.

Shares of SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWTX) were down 39% to $18.84 after the company announced initial clinical data from the Phase 1/2 study evaluating nirogacestat.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ:ACB) was down, falling 37% to $1.7099 after the company announced upsized bought deal financing of $150 million.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $114.86, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,850.20.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $22.10 on Friday while copper rose 1.2% to $4.3115.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.42%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.27% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5%. The German DAX gained 1.62%, French CAC 40 rose 1.64% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.37%.

Retail sales in Spain rose by 1.5% year-over-year in April following a revised 4.1% decline in the prior month. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.5% year-over-year in April.

Economics

The goods trade deficit shrank to $105.9 billion in April from a revised record high of $125.9 billion in the previous month, as exports rose 3.1% to a fresh all-time high of $173.9 billion.

Personal income rose 0.4% from a month ago in April, while personal spending rose 0.9% month-over-month. Core PCE prices climbed by 0.3% month-over-month in April.

Wholesale inventories rose by 2.1% month-over-month to $860.8 billion in April.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was revised lower to 58.4 in May from a preliminary reading of 59.1.

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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 85,570,750 cases with around 1,030,770 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,147,530 cases and 524,530 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,880,510 COVID-19 cases with 666,240 deaths. In total, there were at least 530,468,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,308,120 deaths.