Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Dips 500 Points; GTY Technology Holdings Shares Jump

U.S. stocks extended losses midway through trading, with the Dow Jones dropping around 500 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 1.48% to 33,414.47 while the NASDAQ fell 2.28% to 12,577.66. The S&P also fell, dropping, 2.06% to 4,199.06.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares fell by just 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. MBII, up 31% and Clearwater Paper Corporation CLW up 23%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares dipped by 4.2%.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter on Thursday.

Apple reported fiscal year second-quarter earnings of $1.52 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.43. This compares to the year-ago EPS of $1.40 per share and the previous quarter's $2.10. Revenue climbed 9% year-over-year from $89.6 billion to $97.3 billion. Analysts, on average, estimated revenue of $93.89 billion.

Equities Trading UP

GTY Technology Holdings Inc. GTYH shares shot up 115% to $13.63 as the company agreed to be acquired by GI Partners.

Shares of Belite Bio Inc. ADR BLTE got a boost, shooting 127% to $13.63. Belite Bio priced its 6 million ADS IPO at $6 per ADS.

Vaxxinity, Inc. VAXX shares were also up, gaining 55% to $5.87. Vaxxinity Executive chairman Lou Reese purchased 22,912 shares at $3.48 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Accolade, Inc. ACCD shares tumbled 46% to $6.02 after the company reported Q4 earnings results and issued Q1 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Shares of LianBio LIAN were down 24% to $3.79. LianBio highlighted that its partner, Bristol Myers, announced the FDA approval for Camzyos.

Genocea Biosciences, Inc. GNCA was down, falling 23% to $0.3147 after the company announced that it has initiated a process to explore a range of strategic alternatives including the sale of all or part of the company, a merger or a reverse merger.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $106.80, while gold traded up 0.9% to $1,909.10.

Silver traded down 0.6% Friday to $23.045 while copper fell 0.3% to $4.4210.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.74%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.47%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.85%. The German DAX climbed 0.84%, French CAC 40 rose 0.39% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.82%.

The Eurozone economy grew by 0.2% on quarter during the first three months of the year, while annual inflation rate increased to a fresh record high of 7.5% in April. The annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 6.2% percent in April from the 31-year high level of 6.5% in the prior month, while GDP contracted by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter during the three months to March of 2022.

German GDP expanded 0.2% on quarter, while Spanish economy expanded 0.3% on the quarter in the first three months of 2022. Producer prices in France increased 4.3% month-over-month in March, while the country’s economy showed no growth in Q1. UK’s nationwide House Price Index rose 12.1% year-over-year in April.

Economics

Personal income in the US rose 0.5% from a month ago in March, while personal spending increased 1.1% in March. The personal consumption expenditure price index surged 6.6% year-over-year in March.

The employment cost index rose 1.4% quarter-over-quarter during the first three months of 2022.

The Chicago PMI fell to 58.5 points in April from 65.9 points in March.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised lower to 65.2 in April from a preliminary reading of 65.7.

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

Data on farm prices for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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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 82,954,760 cases with around 1,020,150 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,072,480 cases and 523,750 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,418,920 COVID-19 cases with 663,280 deaths. In total, there were at least 512,303,880 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,256,900 deaths.