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

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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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. 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. 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. 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 SEEL shares dropped 12% to $4.39. Seelos announced postponement of its annual meeting of stockholders.
• Shares of enVVeno Medical Corporation 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. 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.

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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