Gold Falls Over 2%; US Factory Orders Rise In March

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index falling over 400 points on Monday.

The Dow traded down 0.90% to 49,052.82 while the NASDAQ fell 0.48% to 24,994.93. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.50% to 7,194.07.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.8% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, materials stocks fell by 1.3%.

Top Headline

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) posted upbeat earnings for the first quarter, but lowered its FY2026 forecast.

Norwegian Cruise Line reported quarterly earnings of 23 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 14 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.331 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.357 billion.

The company also cut its FY2026 adjusted EPS guidance from $2.38 to $1.45-$1.79.

Equities Trading UP
           

• CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNSP) shares shot up 298% to $9.19 after the company announced a $22.5 million private placement of 650,000 shares at $2.30 per share and warrants.
• Shares of Skycorp Solar Group Ltd (NASDAQ:PN) got a boost, surging 84% to $5.28 after the company announced it acquired the remaining stake in Nanjin Cesun Power.
• Global Business Travel Group Inc (NYSE:GBTG) shares were also up, gaining 58% to $9.37 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Xanadu Quantum Technologies (NASDAQ:XNDU) shares dropped 63% to $13.40. Xanadu will report first quarter financial results on May 14.
• Shares of Origin Materials Inc (NASDAQ:ORGN) were down 46% to $1.42 after the company announced it is selling its PET cap technology and an orderly wind down of operations. The company is reducing its workforce.
• 22nd Century Group Inc (NASDAQ:XXII) was down, falling 38% to $0.85 after the company announced it filed a prospectus to sell up to $6.4 million shares under a sales agreement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $102.45 while gold traded down 2.4% at $4,531.10.

Silver traded down 2.9% to $74.225 on Monday, while copper fell 1.4% to $5.9035.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.8%. Germany's DAX fell 0.3%, while France's CAC 40 dipped 0.9%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Monday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 1.24% and India's BSE Sensex rising 0.4%

Economics

• U.S. light vehicle sales fell to an annual rate of 15.9 million units in April, from 16.3 million in the previous month.
• U.S. factory orders increased 1.5% month-over-month to $630.4 billion in March, topping market estimates of 0.5% and compared to a revised 0.3% gain in February.

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