Crude Oil Down 1%; US Composite PMI Jumps In March

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones dropping around 80 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.26% to 32,021.81 while the NASDAQ fell 0.41% to 11,739.58. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.23% to 3,939.65.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares rose by 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ReNew Energy Global Plc RNW, up 18%, and Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás EBR, up 4%.
• In trading on Friday, financials shares fell by 1.1%.

Top Headline

The S&P Global manufacturing PMI rose to 49.1 in March from 47.3 in the previous month, while services PMI climbed to 53.8 from 50.6 in January.

The S&P Global composite PMI surged to 53.3 in March from 50.1 in the prior month.

Equities Trading UP

• Silvergate Capital Corporation SI shares shot up 72% to $1.9450 on rumor suggesting a crypto exchange is trying to buy Silvergate's trade processing technologies.
• Shares of Torrid Holdings Inc. CURV got a boost, shooting 17% to $2.7850 after the company reported Q4 results.
• Vaccitech plc VACC shares were also up, gaining 14% to $2.58 after the company reported better-than-expected FY22 sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Allarity Therapeutics, Inc. ALLR shares 34% to $0.0742 after the company announced a reverse stock split of its common stock.
• Shares of Scholastic Corporation SCHL were down 23% to $31.76 after the company said Q3 adjusted EPS and sales results were lower year over year.
• Express, Inc. EXPR was down, falling 16% to $0.7139 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.2% to $69.14 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,992.90.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $23.395 on Friday while copper fell 1.1% to $4.0785.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.54%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.33% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index tumbled 2.3%. The German DAX declined 1.9%, French CAC 40 dipped 1.87% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2.12%.

The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI dropped to 47.1 in March versus a reading of 48.5 in February, while services PMI climbed to 55.6 from 52.7. The S&P Global German composite PMI climbed to 52.6 in March from 50.7 in the prior month, while French composite PMI jumped to 54 from 51.7.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI fell to 52.8 in March from 53.5 in February, while manufacturing PMI slipped to 48 from 49.3. Retail sales in the UK increased 1.2% month-over-month in February. Spanish gross domestic product grew by 0.2% quarter-over-quarter during the last three months of 2022.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 0.13%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.67% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.64%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.6%.

Japanese services PMI climbed to 54.2 in March versus a final reading of 54.0 in February, while manufacturing PMI rose to 48.6 from 47.7. The annual inflation rate in Japan eased to 3.3% in February compared to January's 41-year high level of 4.3%.

Economics

• US durable goods orders fell 1% month-over-month in February versus a revised 5% drop in January.
• The S&P Global manufacturing PMI rose to 49.1 in March from 47.3 in the previous month, while services PMI climbed to 53.8 from 50.6 in January.
• The S&P Global composite PMI surged to 53.3 in March from 50.1 in the prior month.

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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 106,082,750 cases with around 1,153,520 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,700,660 cases and 530,810 deaths, while France reported over 39,735,270 COVID-19 cases with 165,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 683,084,700 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,824,490 deaths.