U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 1% on Friday.
The Dow traded down 0.58% to 30,783.52 while the NASDAQ fell 1.21% to 11,412.50. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.92% to 3,865.50.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Forafric Global PLC (NASDAQ:AFRI), up 5% and BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) up 3%.
In trading on Friday, industrials shares fell by 2.9%.
Top Headline
FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) issued preliminary results.
The company said it now expects first-quarter revenue of approximately $23.2 billion and first-quarter adjusted earnings to be around $3.44 per share. FedEx has withdrawn its fiscal year 2023 earnings forecast. The company expects business conditions to weaken further in the second quarter.
Equities Trading UP
- Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares shot up 49% to $3.7187 after the company announced the sale of its Chinese manufacturing facilities to Yuhan Optoelectronic Technology for $150 million.
- Shares of JanOne Inc. (NASDAQ:JAN) got a boost, shooting 5% to $2.50. The company executed a term sheet to acquire Soin Therapeutics LLC and its product, a patent-pending, novel formulation of low dose naltrexone.
- Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) shares were also up, gaining 6% to $11.86. Needham maintained Harmonic with a Buy and raised the price target from $15 to $17.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMBL) shares tumbled 47% to $0.1720 after the company reported pricing of $7.5 million public offering of common stock and warrants.
- Shares of Aditxt, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTX) were down 57% to $4.45 after the company announced pricing of $20 million public offering of $6 per share. Dawson James downgraded Aditxt from Buy to Neutral.
- NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) was down, falling 20% to $23.18 after the company announced it will separate into two independent, publicly traded companies – one focused on digital commerce, the other on ATMs.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $85.35, while gold traded up 0.2% at $1,681.30.
Silver traded up 0.7% to $19.395 on Friday while copper rose 1.1% to $3.5295.
Euro zone
European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.58%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.62%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.25%. The German DAX declined 1.66%, French CAC 40 fell 1.31% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.14%.
Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to a record of 9.1% in August, up from 8.9% in the previous month. Passenger car registrations in the European Union jumped 4.4% year-over-year to 650,305 units during August.
The annual inflation rate in Italy accelerated to 8.4% in August, recording the highest level in over 36 years. Italy recorded a trade deficit of EUR 0.361 billion in versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 8.575 billion. Retail sales in the UK fell 1.6% month-over-month in August, recording the biggest drop so far this year.
Economics
- The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to a five-month high of 59.5 in September from 58.2 in the previous month.
- The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 8 to 599 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.
- The Treasury International Capital report for July will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 97,430,410 cases with around 1,078,010 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,522,770 cases and 528,270 deaths, while France reported over 34,831,390 COVID-19 cases with 154,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 616,221,110 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,526,110 deaths.
