Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 50 points as we begin the month of May. The Nasdaq in particular, had one of its worst monthly performance last month since 2008. This comes as investors continue to digest both economic data and the Russia-Ukraine war. A more hawkish Federal Reserve is also something investors are wary about. From interest rate hikes to rising bond yields and persistent inflation, these are all things that could affect the global markets.
Shares of Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI) are down today by over 5% after Jefferies cut its price target to $51.30 from $61.50 per share. Analysts cite Bilibili’s recent cut in its outlook due to the resurgence of Covid cases in China. Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) says that its Covid vaccine for children under 6 years old will be ready for review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel when it meets in June. The company has applied for emergency use authorization for the treatment last week.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple are down by 0.45% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up by 0.22%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading mixed on Monday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 2.11% while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is up by 0.11%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 0.30% on Monday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are also down by 0.22%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is up by 0.55% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading higher today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Treasury Yields Breaches 3% Ahead Of Fed Meeting
Following the stock market opening on Monday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading higher at 0.26%, 0.17%, and 0.72%. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up by 0.74% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 0.23%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield breached 3% today before returning down to 2.98%. This would be around its recent late 2018 high of 2.94%. The Fed’s two-day May meeting that will end on Wednesday, where a 50 basis point hike in interest rates is a likely outcome. Analysts also expect a rate hike of at least 25 basis points at each of the remaining five meetings this year as the Federal Reserve continues its fight against rampant inflation.
Oil prices also continue to fall today, but are still above $100 per barrel. This comes as at least 20 cities across China have some degree of lockdown imposed. China has also not shown any signs of easing lockdown measures despite its impact on the economy and global supply chain.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today May 2, 2022
Activision Stock Gains After News Of Berkshire Hathaway’s 9.5% Stake In Company
Among the main firms turning heads in the stock market now would be Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). For the most part, this seems to be the case thanks to the latest announcements from Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK.A) latest annual meeting. As of this weekend, Berkshire’s current official stake in Activision is up to a sizable 9.5%. This would value Berkshire’s total stake in the gaming goliath at about $5.6 billion. Furthermore, while the initial buy-in call was from Berkshire’s fund manager, Buffett himself pushed for the additional share purchase. Because of all this, ATVI stock is now up by over 2.7% today.
By and large, the current reaction from investors is not all that surprising. After all, the Oracle of Omaha is known for his value stock plays and eagle-eye market observations. In theory, this could suggest that Buffett and his firm see the $68.7 billion takeover by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) receiving the greenlight from regulators. Although he did clarify that he “doesn’t know what the Justice Department will do.” Nonetheless, this is what he had to say about everything, “If the deal goes through, we make some money, and if the deal doesn’t go through, who knows what happens.” Safe to say, ATVI stock would be in focus today following this notable piece of news.
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Sage Therapeutics And Biogen Kick Off Rolling FDA Submission For New Major Depressive Disorder Drug
Meanwhile, the likes of Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SAGE) and Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) are also trending today. As you can imagine, these biotech firms have some positive developments on the operational front today. Namely, the duo are initiating a rolling submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This submission will be for the use of their major depressive disorder (MDD) drug candidate, zuranolone. As it stands, zuranolone is an investigational “two-week, once-daily oral drug,” being developed for the treatment of MDD. As a result of the update, SAGE stock is now gaining by over 3% at today’s market open.
In detail, the company submitted data from two completed studies on zuranolone, the LANDSCAPE and NEST clinical development programs. Speaking on the importance of the drug is Sage CEO Barry Greene. He notes, “There are millions of people living with depression and the initiation of the rolling NDA submission brings us one step closer to our goal of offering zuranolone as a potential new treatment option.” Greene adds, “We believe the results from the LANDSCAPE and NEST programs, in which zuranolone demonstrated rapid and sustained effects and a well-tolerated safety profile in clinical trials, support zuranolone as a potential novel treatment option for MDD, if approved. We look forward to providing an update when the rolling submission for zuranolone in MDD is complete, which we expect to occur in the second half of this year.”
All in all, the duo are moving forward with this notable FDA submission. Moreover, investors appear keen to get in on the action as well. Whether this can translate to long-term gains for either SAGE stock or BIIB stock remains to be seen.
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