Nasdaq Down 300 Points; BlackRock Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 500 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 1.37% to 37,934.02 while the NASDAQ fell 1.82% to 16,142.15. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.61% to 5,115.54.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell by just 0.7% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, materials shares dipped by 2%.

Top Headline

BlackRock, Inc. BLK posted stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Revenue growth of 11% Y/Y to $4.728 billion, beating the consensus of $4.676 billion. Adjusted EPS increased 24% Y/Y to $9.81, beating the consensus of $9.32.

Equities Trading UP

PaxMedica, Inc. PXMD shares shot up 106% to $0.8542 after the company announced the completed execution of three pivotal registration/validation batches of PAX-101.

Shares of EZGO Technologies Ltd. EZGO got a boost, surging 31% to $2.04. EZGO entered into a $1.84 million procurement agreement for sale of security patrol robots and platform.

NextPlat Corp NXPL shares were also up, gaining 28% to $1.93 after the company reported a year-over-year increase in FY23 consolidated revenue results. NextPlat announced a proposed business combination with Progressive Care Inc.

Equities Trading DOWN

Motus GI Holdings, Inc. MOTS shares dropped 36% to $0.2640 after the company announced that it does not believe that it will be able to maintain the listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq and that it does not intend to appeal the staff's determination. The company said it is exploring a range of strategic and financing alternatives.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM were down 6% to $184.13 following first-quarter earnings.

Applied Digital Corporation APLD was down, falling 12% to $2.7150 after the company reported worse-than-expected third-quarter financial results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $85.43 while gold traded down 0.8% at $2,353.50.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $28.075 on Friday, while copper rose 0.1% to $4.2580.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.14%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.91% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.34% The German DAX fell 0.13% French CAC 40 fell 0.16% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.15%.

Industrial sales in Italy declined by 3.1% from the prior month in January following a 1% gain in the previous month. The annual inflation rate in France eased to 2.3% in March from 3% in February, while Spain's annual consumer price inflation rose to 3.2% in March from February's 2.8%. German consumer prices inflation slowed to 2.2% in March from 2.5% in the prior month.

Industrial production in the UK rose 1.1% month-over-month in February, while UK's trade deficit widened to £2.291 billion in February versus a revised £2.205 billion in January. The British economy grew by 0.1% month-over-month in February versus a revised 0.3% gain in January.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.21%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 2.18%, China’s Shanghai Composite falling 0.49% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex dipping 1.06%.

China's trade surplus shrank to $58.55 billion in March from $78.43 billion in the year-ago period. Industrial production in Japan fell by 0.6% month-over-month in February versu flash reading of a 0.1% decline.

Economics

U.S. export prices increased 0.3% from the prior month in March following a revised 0.7% gain in the prior month.

Import prices in the U.S. gained 0.4% month-over-month in March compared to a 0.3% increase in February.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment declined to 77.9 in April compared to March’s reading of 79.4.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 2 to 506 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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