Nasdaq Up Over 100 Points; Crude Oil Rises 2%

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Tuesday.

The Dow traded up 0.41% to 32,376.61 while the NASDAQ rose 1.05% to 11,798.39. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.76% to 3,981.58.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares rose by 3.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Select Energy Services, Inc. WTTR, up 14%, and Hammerhead Energy Inc. HHRS, up 14%.
• In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 2.9%.

Top Headline

Existing home sales in the US surged 14.5% to an annual rate of 4.58 million in February, compared to market estimates of a 5% growth.

Equities Trading UP

• Quince Therapeutics, Inc. QNCX shares shot up 71% to $1.4350 after Echo Lake Capital offered to acquire the company for $1.60 per share in cash.
• Shares of Cerberus Cyber Sentinel Corporation CISO got a boost, shooting 65% to $0.3799. Cerberus Cyber Sentinel said it sees Q4 revenue of $14.7 million and sees FY22 revenue of $46.5 million. CISO proposed using the offering proceeds and its existing cash resources to repay the $5,000,000 4% promissory note issued and sold to Bell Bank in June 2022.
• U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc. USX shares were also up, gaining 298% to $5.97 after Knight-Swift Transportation agreed to acquire the company for $6.15 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Altimmune, Inc. ALT shares tumbled 53% to $5.11 after the company announced results from the week 24 interim analysis of pemvidutide MOMENTUM Phase 2 obesity trial and 12-week Phase 1b type 2 diabetes safety trial.
• Shares of Check-Cap Ltd. CHEK were down 42% to $1.7650 after the company said the current efficacy results from its calibration studies do not meet the goal to proceed to the powered portion of the U.S. pivotal study.
• First Majestic Silver Corp. AG was down, falling 24% to $5.63 after the company temporarily suspended mining activities and reduced its workforce at Jerritt Canyon, which represented 21% of the company's 2022 revenue.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3% to $69.20 while gold traded down 1.9% at $1,944.60.

Silver traded down 1% to $22.415 on Tuesday while copper rose 1.1% to $3.9940.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.33%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.79% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 2.45%. The German DAX gained 1.75%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.42% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 2.53%.

Construction output in the Eurozone rose 0.9% from a year ago in January. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone fell by 19.7 points to 10 in March versus a one-year high level of 29.7 in the previous month, while ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany declined by 15.1 points to 13 in March. Passenger car registrations in the European Union rose 11.5% year-over-year to 802,763 units in February.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.36% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.64%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.77%.

Hong Kong’s current account surplus shrank to HKD 63.8 billion in the fourth quarter from HKD 91.9 billion in the year-ago period.

Economics

Existing home sales in the US surged 14.5% to an annual rate of 4.58 million in February, compared to market estimates of a 5% growth.

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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 105,979,970 cases with around 1,151,770 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,696,980 cases and 530,800 deaths, while France reported over 39,704,740 COVID-19 cases with 165,370 deaths. In total, there were at least 682,658,200 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,820,840 deaths.