Dow Tumbles Over 500 Points; US Producer Prices Decline In February

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 500 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 1.69% to 31,612.42 while the NASDAQ fell 1.26% to 11,284.65. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 1.64% to 3,855.15.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares fell by just 0.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Xcel Energy Inc. XEL, up 1%, and CMS Energy Corporation CMS, up 1%.
• In trading on Wednesday, energy shares tumbled by 4.3%.

Top Headline

Producer prices for final demand declined 0.1% month-over-month in February versus market estimates of a 0.3% growth.

Equities Trading UP

• ThermoGenesis Holdings, Inc. THMO shares shot up 85% to $3.9050 after the company announced the roll out of ReadyStart cGMP Suites for early-stage cell and gene-therapy companies.
• Shares of Ambipar Emergency Response AMBI got a boost, shooting 24% to $15.15.
• Smartsheet Inc. SMAR shares were also up, gaining 17% to $45.02 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and issued strong EPS guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

• CXApp Holding Corp. CXAI shares tumbled 47% to $5.22.
• Shares of American Public Education, Inc. APEI were down 46% to $5.04 after the company posted downbeat Q4 results.
• Casa Systems, Inc. CASA was down, falling 35% to $2.2599 after the company reported Q4 results and said Jerry Guo will retire as President and CEO.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.1% to $68.40 while gold traded up 1% at $1,929.80.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $22.215 on Wednesday while copper fell 2.7% to $3.8960.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dipped 2.5%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 4.3%. The German DAX tumbled 2.9% French CAC 40 dropped 3.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 4%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone climbed by 0.7% from a month ago in January, versus a revised 1.3% drop in December. The annual inflation rate in France accelerated to 6.3% in February from 6% in the previous month. The wholesale price inflation in Germany fell for a fifth straight month to 8.9% year-over-year in February from 10.6% in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.52% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbing 0.55%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.59%.

Indian merchandise trade deficit shrank to $17.43 billion in February from $18.75 billion in the year-ago month. Chinese retail trade rose 3.5% from the previous year for January-February 2023, while industrial production rose 2.4% year-over-year in January-February 2023 combined.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the US rose 6.5% in the week ended March 10, 2023, following a 7.4% increase in the prior week.
• Retail sales in the US dropped 0.4% month-over-month in February versus a revised 3.2% increase in January.
• Producer prices for final demand declined 0.1% month-over-month in February versus market estimates of a 0.3% growth.
• The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to -24.6 in March from -5.8 a month ago.
• The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index rose for a third month to a reading of 44 in March, reaching a new high since Sept. 2022.

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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 105,665,980 cases with around 1,149,250 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,691,950 cases and 530,780 deaths, while France reported over 39,667,100 COVID-19 cases with 165,240 deaths. In total, there were at least 681,803,360 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,813,560 deaths.