US Stocks Open Higher; Dow Rises 200 Points

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 200 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.64% to 32,443.64 while the NASDAQ rose 0.20% to 11,848.04. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.52% to 3,991.63.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Financials shares jumped by 1.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included First Citizens BancShares, Inc. FCNCA, up 44%, and First Republic Bank FRC, up 23%.
• In trading on Monday, communication services shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

First Citizens BancShares Inc FCNCA agreed to purchase the troubled Silicon Valley Bank.

First Citizens agreed to a deal to purchase all deposits and loans of SVB, according to a statement issued by the bank.

Equities Trading UP

• First Citizens BancShares, Inc. FCNCA shares shot up 44% to $841.48 after First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company entered an agreement to purchase all deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bank.
• Shares of Pyxis Oncology, Inc. PYXS got a boost, shooting 35% to $2.9796. Pyxis Oncology recently reported loss of $3.65 per share in FY22.
• First Republic Bank FRC shares were also up, gaining 23% to $15.26 in sympathy with Silicon Valley Bank after First Citizens BancShares announced it will purchase all loans and certain other assets of SVB.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Unity Biotechnology, Inc. UBX shares 37% to $2.62 after the company said its phase 2 ENVISION study did not meet its non-inferiority threshold due to strength in the control group.
• Shares of Pharming Group N.V. PHAR were down 18% to $12.48. The FDA approved Pharming Group’s Joenja (leniolisib) for activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta (PI3Kδ) syndrome (APDS) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older.
• Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. FYBR was down, falling 8% to $21.80. Frontier partnered with YouTube TV to deliver internet & tv experience. Morgan Stanley downgraded Frontier Communications from Equal-Weight to Underweight and lowered the price target from $23 to $19.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $70.37 while gold traded down 1.6% at $1,951.40.

Silver traded down 1.1% to $23.08 on Monday while copper fell 0.4% to $4.0570.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.2%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1.3%. The German DAX gained 1.4%, French CAC 40 surged 1.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.5%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 3.2% year-over-year to EUR 6.86 trillion in February. The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany climbed to 93.3 in March from 91.1 in the prior month. UK’s CBI distributive trades survey’s retail sales balance fell to +1 in March compared to a reading of +2 in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.33%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.75% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.44%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.2%.

Exports from Hong Kong dropped 8.8% year-over-year to $286.2 billion in February, while imports declined 4.1% year-over-year to $331.6 billion. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan rose to 96.6 in January versus a preliminary reading of 96.5, while index of coincident economic indicators climbed to 96.4 in January versus a flash reading of 96.1.

Economics

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for March will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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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 106,102,020 cases with around 1,153,730 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,705,950 cases and 530,830 deaths, while France reported over 39,758,760 COVID-19 cases with 165,460 deaths. In total, there were at least 683,336,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,826,960 deaths.