Dow Jumps Over 600 Points; US Consumer Sentiment Tumbles In March

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 600 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.53% to 41,436.27 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.36% to 17,712.11. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.91% to 5,627.14.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.9% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment dipped to 57.9 in March, recording the lowest reading since November 2022, compared to 64.7 in the previous month and down from market estimates of 63.1.

Equities Trading UP

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. AAOI shares shot up 33% to $21.16 after the company announced a warrant issuance agreement transaction with Amazon for 7,945,399 shares.
Shares of Radius Recycling, Inc. RDUSgot a boost, surging 102% to $27.66 after the company disclosed a merger deal with Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. for $30.00 per share in cash
SUNation Energy Inc. SUNE shares were also up, gaining 64% to $0.5255 after the company announced it has repaid in full and retired senior and junior secured debt.

Equities Trading DOWN

Xponential Fitness, Inc. XPOF shares dropped 38% to $7.56 after the company announced fourth-quarter results.
Shares of Newegg Commerce, Inc. NEGG were down 26% to $0.2850 after the company announced a 1-for-20 reverse stock split.
Sutro Biopharma, Inc. STRO was down, falling 27% to $0.9143 following FY 2024 results. B of A Securities downgraded the stock from Buy to Underperform and cut its price target from $11 to $1.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $66.95 while gold traded up 0.4% at $3,002.70.

Silver traded up 0.7% to $34.535 on Friday, while copper fell 0.6% to $4.8980.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.93%, Germany's DAX 40 jumped 1.79% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.17%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.32%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.80%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.72%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.81% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surging 2.12%.

Economics

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment dipped to 57.9 in March, recording the lowest reading since November 2022, compared to 64.7 in the previous month and down from market estimates of 63.1.

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