The Nasdaq Composite encountered a rough day, plummeting by 100 points as the US stock market stirred with volatility on Tuesday.
By the time the market opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up by 0.11% to reach 38,831.86 while the NASDAQ descended by 0.63% to 16,001.30. Simultaneously, the S&P 500 also saw a dip of 0.28% to settle at 5,135.12.
Energy stocks managed to climb by 0.4% during Tuesday’s trading, while information technology shares stumbled by 0.8%.
Housing construction in the US experienced a notable surge in February, jumping by 10.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.521 million units after a 12.3% decline in January.
Equities in the Green
Shares of Ontrak, Inc. (OTRK) took a significant leap of 153% to $0.4787 in anticipation of the company’s forthcoming presentation at the 36th Annual Roth Conference.
Meanwhile, Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (FUSN) saw a robust surge of 97% to $21.00 following the announcement of an agreed acquisition by AstraZeneca. Additionally, Leerink Partners downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform but adjusted its price target from $17 to $21.
Enveric Biosciences, Inc. (ENVB) shares also saw a rise, climbing by a substantial 44% to $1.59 after declaring the signing of two non-binding term sheets with an undisclosed biotechnology company, aiming for the out-licensing of cannabinoid-COX-2 conjugate compounds for joint disease treatment.
Equities in the Red
Shares of Greenwave Technology Solutions, Inc. (GWAV) tumbled by 56% to $0.1627 as the company announced a restructuring of its senior secured debt.
Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. (SEEL) witnessed a decrease of 53% to $0.43 after revealing that its ALS study with SLS-005 failed to meet statistical significance in both primary and secondary endpoints within the Full Analysis Set.
Peraso Inc. (PRSO) slipped by 22% to $1.34 after reporting fourth-quarter EPS results below expectations.
Commodity-wise, oil inched up by 0.1% to $82.79, while gold saw a decrease of 0.3% to $2,157.70. Silver dipped by 0.5% to $25.145, and copper fell by 1.1% to $4.0830 on Tuesday.
In the Eurozone, the STOXX 600 went down by 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 slipped by 0.3%, and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index saw a rise of 0.3%. The German DAX saw a marginal decline of 0.1%, while the French CAC 40 and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index observed increases of 0.20% and 0.3%, respectively.
Economic indicators showed the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone reporting an 8.5 point increase to a reading of 33.5 in March, accompanied by a 3.1% year-over-year wage growth in the Eurozone during the fourth quarter. Hourly labor costs rose by 3.4% year-over-year for the same quarter.
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany surged to a reading of +31.7 in March, marking its highest level since February 2022.
In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 0.66%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 1.24%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index decreased by 0.72%, and India’s S&P BSE Sensex saw a decline of 0.87%.
Japan experienced a 6.7% month-over-month drop in industrial production in January, differing from the initial 7.5% decline. Concurrently, the Bank of Japan pushed its key short-term interest rate to approximately 0% to 0.1%.
US building permits exhibited a 1.9% rise to an annual rate of 1.518 million in February, surpassing market expectations of 1.495 million permits.
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