Dow Tumbles Over 100 Points; Acer Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones falling more than 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.36% to 34,763.44 while the NASDAQ rose 0.26% to 14,056.44. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.03% to 4,513.47.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 0.7% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

Dollar General Corp DG reported second-quarter FY23 sales growth of 3.9% year-on-year to $9.80 billion, missing the analyst consensus of $9.92 billion. EPS of $2.13 missed the analyst consensus of $2.46.

Dollar General lowered its FY23 net sales growth outlook from 3.5%-5% to 1.3% - 3.3%. The company lowered FY23 EPS guidance from $9.83 - $10.68 to $7.10 - $8.30 versus an estimate of $10.01.

Equities Trading UP

Acer Therapeutics Inc. ACER shares shot up 93% to $1.1799 after Zevra Therapeutics announced it will acquire the company. The transaction will have a total potential value for Acer stockholders of up to $91 million.

Shares of Satixfy Communications Ltd. SATX got a boost, shooting 29% to $0.6148 after it inked a deal with MDA Ltd. to sell its digital payload division, SatixFy Space Systems UK Ltd., for $40 million.

Canopy Growth Corporation CGC shares were also up, gaining 30% to $0.5899 after the HHS called for moving marijuana to a lower-risk drug category.

Equities Trading DOWN

Lands' End, Inc. LE shares dropped 25% to $7.74 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter results and issued weak guidance.

Shares of Dollar General Corporation DG were down 13% to $138.00. Dollar General reported second-quarter FY23 sales growth of 3.9% year-on-year to $9.80 billion, missing the analyst consensus of $9.92 billion.

Duluth Holdings Inc. DLTH was down, falling 14% to $6.30 after the company reported a year-over-year decrease in second-quarter EPS results and reiterated FY23 EPS guidance below estimates. Additionally, CFO Dave Loretta announced his decision to step down effective September 15.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $83.39 while gold traded down 0.3% at $ 1,967.80.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $24.845 on Thursday while copper fell 0.3% to $3.8310.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.20% London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.46% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.47% The German DAX rose 0.35% French CAC 40 fell 0.65%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.29%.

The annual inflation rate in the Eurozone came in steady at 5.3% in August, while unemployment rate stood at a record low level of 6.4% in July. German unemployment rate came in unchanged at 5.7% in August.

The French economy grew by 0.5% on quarter in the second quarter, while consumer price inflation rose to 4.8% year-over-year in August. The annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 5.5% in August from 5.9% in the prior month, while jobless rate rose to 7.6% in July from a revised 7.5% in the previous month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.88%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.55% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.55%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 0.4%.

Retail sales in Hong Kong climbed 14% year-over-year in July versus a revised 17.4% surge in the prior month. The official NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI for China fell to 51.0 in August from 51.5 in the prior month.

Japanese housing starts fell by 6.7% year-over-year in July, while retail sales climbed 6.8% year-over-year in July. Industrial production in Japan fell by 2.0% month-over-month in July.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 228,000 on the week ending Aug. 26, compared to market estimates of 235,000.

Core PCE prices in the U.S. rose by 0.2% month-over-month in July.

Personal spending in current dollars rose by 0.8% in July, while personal income rose by 0.2% over a month in July.

The Chicago Business Barometer climbed to 48.7 in August from 42.8 in July.

U.S. natural gas supplies climbed 32 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

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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 108,070,840 cases with around 1,173,590 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,110 cases and 531,920 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 694,605,410 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,911,440 deaths.