Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; ISM Services PMI Rises To 58.3 In March

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 150 points on Tuesday.

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.18% to 34,985.75 while the NASDAQ fell 1.05% to 14,380.50. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.21% to 4,572.81.

Also check this: Alphabet And 3 Other Stocks Sold By Insiders

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped by 1.4% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included National Grid plc NGG, up 4% and Pampa Energía S.A. PAM up 2%.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

The ISM services PMI rose to 58.3 in March from 56.5 in the previous month. Analysts were also expecting a reading of 58.3.

Equities Trading UP

Sunshine Biopharma, Inc. SBFM shares shot up 148% to $5.60 after the company announced that two of its designed mRNA molecules are effective at destroying cancer cells grown in culture.

Shares of System1, Inc. SST got a boost, shooting 84% to $30.44. . The company on Monday reported Q4 and FY22 financials results.

Dingdong (Cayman) Limited DDL shares were also up, gaining 33% to $6.23.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cognyte Software Ltd. CGNT shares tumbled 22% to $9.05 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC were down 15% to $48.30 amid Elon Musk taking a 9.2% stake in competitor Twitter.

Integrated Media Technology Limited IMTE was down, falling 14% to $27.50.

Also check out: Executives Buy More Than $12M Of 3 Stocks

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $103.30, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,944.00.

Silver traded up 1.6% Tuesday to $24.99 while copper rose 0.3% to $4.7960.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.2%. The German DAX declined 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 1.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.4%.

The S&P Global Eurozone Composite PMI increased to 54.9 in March from a preliminary reading of 54.5, while services PMI was revised higher to 55.6 in March from a preliminary estimate of 54.8.

The S&P Global France composite PMI climbed to 56.3 in March from 55.5 in February, while UK services PMI was revised higher to 62.6 in March from a preliminary of 61. German services PMI was revised higher to 56.1 in March from a preliminary of 55. France's industrial production dropped 0.9% from a month ago in February.

Economics

The trade deficit narrowed slightly to $89.18 billion in February from $89.22 billion in January. Exports from the US increased by 1.8%, while imports rose 1.3% during the month.

The S&P Global services PMI rose to 58.0 in March from 56.5 in February, but came in lower than the flash reading of 58.9.

The ISM services PMI rose to 58.3 in March from 56.5 in the previous month.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 11:05 a.m. ET.

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

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 81,867,960 cases with around 1,008,670 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,029,830 cases and 521,440 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,012,790 COVID-19 cases with 660,380 deaths. In total, there were at least 492,986,230 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,180,110 deaths.