Nasdaq Up 150 Points; Gold Rises Over 2%

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 150 points on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.59% to 32,096.68 while the NASDAQ rose 1.35% to 11,288.8. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.78% 3,891.75.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares rose by 2.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kenon Holdings Ltd. KEN, up 7%, and Via Renewables, Inc. VIA, up 7%.
• In trading on Monday, financials shares dipped by 3.3%.

Top Headline

Bluegreen Vacations Holding Corporation BVH reported results for the fourth quarter.

Bluegreen Vacations posted adjusted earnings of $0.61 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.56 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $237.97 million versus expectations of $208.46 million.

Equities Trading UP

• Provention Bio, Inc. PRVB shares shot up 260% to $24.08 after Sanofi announced it will acquire the company for $25 per share in cash.
• Shares of Illumina, Inc. ILMN got a boost, shooting 20% to $233.17. Billionaire activist Carl Icahn is preparing a proxy fight at Illumina, saying the company went ahead with the controversial acquisition of Grail Inc despite opposition from regulators, costing shareholders $50 billion. According to the letter viewed by Wall Street Journal, the activist plans to nominate three people to the company's board.
• Calliditas Therapeutics AB CALT shares were also up, gaining 31% to $22.30 after the company announced the primary endpoint was successfully met in the Phase 2 NefIgArd trial evaluating Nefecon in IgA nephropathy.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Western Alliance Bancorporation WAL shares tumbled 49% to $25.38. Shares of several bank stocks traded lower following the recent closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the largest bank failures since 2008.
• Shares of First Republic Bank FRC were down 63% to $29.96 after the company said it improved its liquidity profile by increasing its borrowing facility from the Federal Reserve and JP Morgan.
• Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. MCB was down, falling 40% to $26.41. Shares of several bank stocks traded lower following the recent closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the largest bank failures since 2008.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $75.28 while gold traded up 2.5% at $1,916.30.

Silver traded up 7.1% to $21.96 on Monday while copper rose 0.8% to $4.0625.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 2.42%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.58% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 3.51%. The German DAX dropped 3.04% French CAC 40 fell 2.9% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 4.03%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 1.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.95% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.20%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.5%.

The business survey index of large manufacturing firms in Japan declined to -10.5% in the first quarter compared to -3.6% in the earlier quarter.

Economics

There were no major US economic releases Monday.

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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 105,602,990 cases with around 1,148,780 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,690,930 cases and 530,780 deaths, while France reported over 39,655,930 COVID-19 cases with 165,160 deaths. In total, there were at least 681,567,040 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,811,980 deaths.