Nasdaq Rises 50 Points; Lowe's Earnings Top Views

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 50 points on Tuesday.

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.07% to 39,043.13 while the NASDAQ rose 0.31% to 16,026.43. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.10% to 5,074.75.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.7% on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, health care shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

Lowe’s Companies Inc LOW posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Lowe’s reported fourth-quarter FY23 sales of $18.60 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $18.45 billion. EPS of $1.77 beat the consensus estimate of $1.68.

For FY24, Lowe’s expects revenue of $84 billion-$85 billion (against the Street view of $85.61 billion) and adjusted EPS of $12.00 – $12.30 vs. consensus of $12.95. The company expects comparable sales to decline about 2% to 3% in FY24.

Equities Trading UP

Janux Therapeutics, Inc. JANX shares shot up 138% to $36.00 after the company announced updated clinical data for both of its clinical programs.

Shares of Infobird Co., Ltd IFBD got a boost, surging 111% to $5.84. The stock continues to experience marked volatility after the company on Monday said it encountered an unexpected delay in its planned reverse stock split.

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. VKTX shares were also up, gaining 79% to $68.93 after the company announced the Phase 2 VENTURE trial successfully achieved its primary endpoint and all secondary endpoints.

Equities Trading DOWN

Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. NERV shares dropped 58% to $2.84 after the company announced it received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for the New Drug Application for roluperidone for the treatment of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.

Shares of Thoughtworks Holding, Inc. TWKS were down 35% to $2.9950 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued weak guidance.

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NRXP was down, falling 31% to $0.2930 after the company announced pricing of $1.5 million underwritten public offering of common stock at a price of $0.30/share together with investor commitment for additional $1 million.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $78.01 while gold traded up 0.3% at $2,045.20.

Silver traded fell 0.6% to $22.65 on Tuesday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.8440.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.5% The German DAX gained 0.5% French CAC 40 rose 0.1% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%.

Bank lending to households in the Eurozone rose by 0.3% year-over-year to EUR 6.870 trillion for January. The consumer confidence indicator in France declined to 89 in February versus around two-year high level of 91 in the prior month. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany climbed to a reading of -29.0 heading into March compared to February's level of 29.6.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.01%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbing 0.94%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index surging 1.29% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.4%.

Hong Kong recorded a trade surplus of $3.6 billion in January compared to a year-ago deficit of $25.4 billion. The annual inflation rate in Japan slowed to 2.2% in January compared to 2.6% in the earlier month.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders fell by 6.1% month-over-month in January compared to a 0.3% decline in December.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.1% in December following a 0.4% increase in November.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed by 6.1% year-over-year in December.

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