US Stocks Open Lower; Dow Drops 125 Points

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping around 125 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.37% to 33,960.34 while the NASDAQ fell 0.21% to 11,559.87. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.18% to 4,069.44.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Top Headline

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.

Thermo Fisher Scientific reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $5.40 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $5.19 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $11.45 billion, exceeding market expectations of $10.43 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Equities Trading DOWN

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $78.66 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,943.40.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $23.725 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.7% to $4.1560.

 

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.9%. The German DAX gained 0.4% French CAC 40 rose 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.5%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone dropped to an eight-month low of 8.5% in January, while annual consumer price inflation in Italy declined to 10.4% in January from 11.6% in the prior month. The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 48.8 in January from 47.8 in the prior month.

The S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing PMI for UK was revised higher to 47.0 in versus a preliminary reading of 46.7, while French manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 50.5 in January versus a preliminary level of 50.8. Germany’s manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 47.3 in January from a preliminary reading of 47.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.07%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.05% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.90%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.3%.

Hong Kong's economy contracted by 4.2% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. The S&P Global Indian manufacturing PMI declined to a three-month low of 55.4 in January. The Caixin China general manufacturing PMI rose to 49.2 in January, while Japanese manufacturing PMI stood at 48.9 in January.

 

Economics

  • Mortgage applications in the US dropped 9% in the week ended January 27.
  • The S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 46.9 in January from a preliminary reading of 46.8.
  • Private businesses in the US added 106,000 jobs in January.

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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 104,196,860 cases with around 1,132,930 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,682,780 cases and 530,740 deaths, while France reported over 39,524,310 COVID-19 cases with 164,230 deaths. In total, there were at least 675,217,930 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,762,450 deaths.

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