Dow Tumbles Over 700 Points; US Services PMI Falls In February

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 700 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 1.63% to 43,457.49 while the NASDAQ fell 1.63% to 19,637.11. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.38% to 6,033.27.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares jumped by 0.6% on Friday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 2.7%.

Top Headline

The S&P Global services PMI dipped to 49.7 in February versus 52.9 in the prior month, down from estimates of 53.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Nuburu, Inc. (NYSE:BURU) shares shot up 64% to $0.3286 after the company announced a new strategic acquisition agreement.
• Shares of Universe Pharmaceuticals INC (NASDAQ:UPC)got a boost, surging 49% to $0.2118.
• GDEV Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEV) shares were also up, gaining 43% to $20.23 after the company announced a one-time special cash dividend of $3.31 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Aspire Biopharma Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASBP) shares dropped 55% to $2.8000. Aspire Biopharma entered into $3 million senior secured convertible debenture agreement.
• Shares of Mobile-health Network Solutions (NASDAQ:MNDR) were down 48% to $0.4850.
• bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUE) was down, falling 42% to $4.09. The company announced it agreed to be acquired by Carlyle and SK Capital for a potential total value of up to $9.84 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7% to $70.56 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,957.20.

Silver traded down 1% to $33.140 on Friday, while copper fell 1.4% to $4.5475.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.52%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 0.12% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.39%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.12%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.04%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.26%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.85%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 3.99% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.56%.

Economics

• The U.S. University of Michigan consumer sentiment fell to 64.7 in February compared to a preliminary reading of 67.8.
• The year-ahead inflation expectations surged to an over one-year high of 4.3% during February.
• U.S. existing home sales fell by 4.9% to an annualized rate of 4.08 million in January, recording the sharpest drop in seven months.
• The S&P Global services PMI dipped to 49.7 in February versus 52.9 in the prior month, down from estimates of 53.
• The S&P Global manufacturing PMI climbed to 51.6 in February versus 51.2 in the previous month.

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