Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Drops Over 100 Points; Hilltop Holdings Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 100 points on Monday.

The Dow traded down 0.42% to 32,837.09 while the NASDAQ rose 0.03% to 12,338.47. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.39% to 4,115.72.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 1.9% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Redbox Entertainment Inc. NASDAQ:RDBX, up 39% and Luokung Technology Corp. NASDAQ:LKCO up 14%.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI dropped for a second straight month to 55.4 in April from 57.1 in March. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 57.6.

Equities Trading UP

Hilltop Holdings Inc. NYSE:HTH shares shot up 18% to $30.16 after the company announced a program to buyback up to $400 million of stock.

Shares of Accolade, Inc. NASDAQ:ACCD got a boost, shooting 25% to $6.97 after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock from Underweight to Equal-Weight and announced a $6 price target.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. NYSE:APRN shares were also up, gaining 31% to $3.9650 after the company announced a $70.5 million planned capital infusion through debt and equity financings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Global Cord Blood Corporation NYSE:CO shares tumbled 29% to $2.4336. Global Cord Blood will acquire Cellenkos Inc and the rights to develop and commercialize all of its existing and future products worldwide.

Shares of First Wave BioPharma, Inc. NASDAQ:FWBI were down 36% to $0.3947 after the company reported data from its Phase 2 RESERVOIR trial of FW-COV, which showed FW-COV's ability to remove the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the digestive tract did not demonstrate statistical significance.

Zosano Pharma Corporation NASDAQ:ZSAN was down, falling 21% to $1.50 after the company announced it has suspended its M207 program and implemented a workforce reduction impacting 40% of remaining employees.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7% to $101.89, while gold traded down 2.5% to $1,863.60.

Silver traded down 2.5% Monday to $22.515 while copper fell 3.9% to $4.2355.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.09%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.28%. The German DAX dipped 0.57%, French CAC 40 fell 1.13% and Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.11%.

The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 55.5 in April from an initial estimate of 55.3. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone dropped to -22 in April, recording the worst since April 2020, while services confidence indicator fell to 13.5 in April from 13.6 in March. The economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone dropped for a second straight month to 105 in April, notching the weakest reading since February 2021.

The unemployment rate in Italy fell to 8.3% in March from 8.5% in the prior month, while manufacturing PMI declined to 54.5 in April from 55.8 in the previous month. The S&P Global French manufacturing PMI increased to 55.7 in April from a five-month low level of 54.7 in March, while manufacturing PMI for Germany rose to 54.6 in April from a preliminary reading of 54.1.

Economics

The S&P Global manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 59.2 in April from a preliminary reading of 59.7, but remained above the March's level of 58.8.

The ISM manufacturing PMI dropped for a second straight month to 55.4 in April from 57.1 in March. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 57.6.

US construction spending rose 0.1% for March.

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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 83,083,420 cases with around 1,020,850 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,082,500 cases and 523,860 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,454,490 COVID-19 cases with 663,560 deaths. In total, there were at least 513,670,100 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,262,090 deaths.