Nasdaq Moves Lower; Fed's Preferred Inflation Gauge Falls More Than Projected

Author: Avi Kapoor | September 27, 2024 12:15pm

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index surging more than 250 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.66% to 42,452.85 while the NASDAQ fell 0.45% to 18,108.42. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.07% to 5,741.34.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.4% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

According to government data released Friday, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index increased by 2.2% in August compared to the same period last year. The reading was below the 2.3% analysts were expecting and a drop from July's 2.5%.

The core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 2.7% year-over-year in August, matching analyst expectations and 0.1% higher than July's number.

Equities Trading UP

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) shares shot up 19% to $9.56 after the company announced it signed a $54.5 million contract with the United States Air Force Research Lab.
Shares of Onconetix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCO) got a boost, surging 64% to $5.57. Altos Venture reported a 32.5% stake in the company as of September 24 in a 13D filing on Thursday.
Biomea Fusion, Inc. (NASDAQ:BMEA) shares were also up, gaining 11% to $10.59. Biomea Fusion disclosed that the FDA lifted its clinical hold on BMF-219 in Type 2 and Type 1 diabetes trials. Rodman & Renshaw analyst Tony Butler upgraded Biomea Fusion from Neutral to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:SEEL) shares dropped 12% to $4.39. Seelos announced postponement of its annual meeting of stockholders.
Shares of enVVeno Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:NVNO) were down 22% to $3.50 after the company announced the pricing of a $15 million public offering of 4.3 million shares at $3.50 per share.
Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHC) was down, falling 25% to $56.60 after the company issued a statement stating they are cooperating fully with the authorities regarding a government investigation.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $67.16 while gold traded down 0.3% at $2,686.90.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $32.355 on Friday, while copper fell 0.3% to $4.6245.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.5%, Germany's DAX climbed 1.04% and France's CAC 40 jumped 0.49%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.21%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.23%.

The industry confidence indicator in Spain climbed by 2.8 points from the prior month to a reading of -0.7 in September. Industrial producer prices in Italy declined by 0.8% year-over-year in August.

The economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone slipped to 96.2 in September from 96.5 in August, while services sentiment indicator climbed to a four-month high level of 6.7 in September. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone gained by 0.5 points to -12.9 in September.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 2.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumping 3.55%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 2.88% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.31%.

Hong Kong’s trade deficit widened to $33.1 billion in August versus $25.6 billion in the year-ago month. The People’s Bank of China slashed the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50bps.

Economics

U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.2% month-over-month to $905.7 billion in August compared to a revised 0.2% rise in the prior month.
The U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed to $94.3 billion in August versus a revised $102.8 billion gap in the previous month.
U.S. personal income rose by 0.2% from the prior month to $24.015 trillion in August compared to a 0.3% gain in the previous month.
Personal spending rose by 0.2% month-over-month in August.
The US core PCE price index increased by 0.1% from the prior month in August compared to market estimates of a 0.2% increase and versus the 0.2% gain in the previous month.

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