Nasdaq Down 80 Points; US Consumer Sentiment Surges To 4-Month High In June

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with Nasdaq Compsoite dropping around 80 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.24% to 34,324.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.59% to 13,701.06. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.29% to 4,412.88.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares jumped by 1.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ReNew Energy Global Plc RNW, up 5%, and Pampa Energía S.A. PAM, up 5%.
• In trading on Friday, materials shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 63.9 in June, recording the highest level in four months, compared to 59.2 in the previous month.

Equities Trading UP

• Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. SPCE shares shot up 17% to $4.7350 after the company on Thursday said its first commercial spaceflight is planned to fly between June 27 and June 30 and the second will follow in early August.
• Shares of iRobot Corporation IRBT got a boost, shooting 20% to $50.40 after UK's Competition and Markets Authority cleared its acquisition deal with Amazon.
• Evelo Biosciences, Inc. EVLO shares were also up, gaining 132% to $0.1926 after the company won U.S. Patent for prebiotic compositions and methods of use thereof for modulation of the microbiome.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Panbela Therapeutics, Inc. PBLA shares dropped 56% to $2.55 after the company announced pricing of an approximately $8.5 million public offering,
• Shares of Coherus BioSciences, Inc. CHRS were down 23% to $4.1450. Coherus BioSciences agreed to acquire Surface Oncology Inc SURF, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology (I-O) company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment.
• Clene Inc. CLNN was down, falling 15% to $0.8899 after the company announced pricing of a $40 million public offering. Clene’s CNM-Au8 treatment demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of plasma neurofilament light chain levels compared to placebo at 24 weeks.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $71.12 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,967.50.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $24.10 on Friday while copper fell 0.3% to $3.8885.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.53%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.19% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.68% The German DAX gained 0.41% French CAC 40 climbed 1.34% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.47%.

The consumer price inflation in the Eurozone came in at 6.1% in May, recording the lowest level since Feb. 2022. Wages and salaries in the Eurozone increased by 4.6% year-over-year in the first quarter, while hourly labor costs rose by 5 % year-over-year. The annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 7.6% in May from 8.2% in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.66%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.07% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.63%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.8%.

The Bank of Japan maintained its key short-term interest rate at -0.1% at its June meeting.

Economics

• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 63.9 in June, recording the highest level in four months, compared to 59.2 in the previous month.
• The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 4 to 552 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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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 107,201,630 cases with around 1,166,890 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,993,280 cases and 531,890 deaths, while France reported over 40,119,160 COVID-19 cases with 167,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 690,387,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,891,720 deaths.