Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; U.S. Adds 273,000 Jobs For February

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 2.62% to 25436.89 while the NASDAQ fell 2.55% to 8,515.45. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.77% to 2,940.17. Coronavirus cases continued to accelerate beyond China. South Korea confirmed 518 new coronavirus cases, while Iran reported 1,234 new cases with 16 new deaths. Mainland China reported another 143 confirmed cases. In total, there are at least 100,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 3,400 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares slipped by just 2.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Molecular Data Inc. MKD, up 4%, and Big Lots, Inc. BIG, up 6%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled 4.2%.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added robust 273,000 new jobs in February, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.5% from 3.6%.

Economists were expecting a gain of 175,000 new jobs.

Equities Trading UP

Digirad Corporation DRAD shares shot up 158% to $8.23. Digirad posted Q4 earnings of $0.3 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.06 per share.

Shares of Enzo Biochem, Inc. ENZ got a boost, shooting 54% to $3.4754. Enzo Biochem’s fiscal second-quarter revenue edged up from $19.3 million in 2019 to $19.4 million in 2020. The non-GAAP loss narrowed from 18 cents per share to 12 cents per share. The company’s subsidiary, Enzo Clinical Labs, will launch coronavirus testing services next week.

NanoViricides, Inc. NNVC shares were also up, gaining 47% to $11.91 after Small Caps Daily issued a press release discussing the company's coronavirus updates.

Equities Trading DOWN

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. NVIV shares tumbled 57% to $2.1069. InVivo priced its 2.55 million share offering at $2.75 per share.

Shares of American Outdoor Brands Corporation AOBC were down 40% to $6.29 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 results.

Beyond Air, Inc. XAIR was down, falling 20% to $7.4.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 4.1% to $44.00, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,686.80.

Silver traded up 0.5% Friday to $17.475, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.56.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 3.4% the Spanish Ibex Index fell 3.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 3.3% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 3.5%, and the French CAC 40 fell 3.6% while UK shares fell 3.1%.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 273,000 new jobs in February

US trade deficit shrank to $45.3 billion in January, versus a revised $48.6 billion gap in the prior month. Exports declined 0.4% from the earlier month to $208.6 billion, while imports slipped 1.4% to $253.9 billion in January.

U.S. wholesale inventories slipped 0.4% in January, versus a 0.3% drop in December.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 11:20 a.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for January will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.