Crude Oil Rises Over 1%; Archer Aviation Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded slightly higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 20 points on Monday.

The Dow traded down 0.01% to 35,455.79 while the NASDAQ rose 0.10% to 14,331.56. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.01% to 4,582.77.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares climbed by 2.1% on Monday.
• In trading on Monday, health care shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

The Chicago Business Barometer rose to 42.8 in July from 41.5 points in June, down from market estimates of 43.3.

Equities Trading UP

• Yellow Corporation YELL shares shot up 88% to $1.3296. Yellow reportedly terminated its operations after grappling with multiple issues, including mergers that left it burdened with debt and a conundrum with the Teamsters Union.
• Shares of GoodRx Holdings, Inc. GDRX got a boost, shooting 36% to $9.19 after TD Cowen upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform and raised its price target from $6.5 to $12.
• Archer Aviation Inc. ACHR shares were also up, gaining 34% to $6.38 after the company entered into contracts with the US Air Force with a total value of up to $142 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Unique Fabricating, Inc. UFAB shares dropped 27% to $0.2524 after gaining 60% on Friday.
• Shares of Alset Capital Acquisition Corp. ACAX were down 22% to $5.91.
• Silicom Ltd. SILC was down, falling 24% to $29.73 following second-quarter results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $81.53 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,009.00.

Silver traded up 1.8% to $24.945 on Monday while copper rose 2% to $4.0040.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.12%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.07% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index slipped 0.45% The German DAX declined 0.14% French CAC 40 rose 0.29% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.49%.

The services confidence indicator in the Eurozone fell for a third straight month to a reading of 5.7 in July, while industry confidence indicator fell for a sixth consecutive month to -9.4 in July. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone increased by 1 point to -15.1 in July, while economic sentiment indicator fell for a third month in a row to 94.5.

The Eurozone economy expanded by 0.3% in the second quarter, topping market expectations for a 0.2% growth. Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone eased for a third straight month to 5.3% in July from 5.5% in June.

The annual inflation rate in Italy slowed to 6% in July from 6.4% in the prior month, while GDP shrank by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter during the second quarter. Retail sales in Germany fell by 0.8% month-over-month in June, while import prices fell 11.4% year-over-year in June.

Net approvals for house purchases in the UK rose to 54.7 thousand in June from 51.1 thousand recorded in the prior month, while consumer credit increased by £1.661 billion in June.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.26%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.46% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.82%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.6%.

Hong Kong’s economy grew 1.5% year-over-year in the second quarter following a revised 2.9% expansion in the prior period. Retail sales in Japan jumped 5.9% year-over-year in June, while industrial production rose by 2.0% month-over-month in June.

Economics

• The Chicago Business Barometer rose to 42.8 in July from 41.5 points in June, down from market estimates of 43.3.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ general business activity index for manufacturing in Texas climbed for a second month in a row to -20.0 in July.

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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 107,511,120 cases with around 1,169,790 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,995,580 cases and 531,910 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 692,525,750 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,903,450 deaths.