The three major U.S. equities indexes closed lower Friday as tensions rose regarding a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Crude oil prices jumped and lingering inflation concerns, especially on by how much and when the Fed would begin hiking interest rates and running off assets. The Dow closed down by 1.4%, the S&P 500 closed down by 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 2.8%. Among S&P 500 stocks, losers outnumbered winners by about 4 to 1 in Friday trading. Ten of 11 sectors closed lower with the biggest declines coming in technology (down 3.1%), consumer cyclicals (down 2.9%), and communications services (down 2.2%). The energy sector was the day\u2019s only winner, closing up 2.9%.<\/p>\n
At around 7:00 a.m. ET Monday morning, S&P 500 futures traded down about 0.8%, the Nasdaq traded down about 1%, and the Dow traded down by 0.7%.<\/p>\n
Crude oil settled at $93.10 on Friday and traded down by around 0.3% in early morning trading Monday at $92.78. The 10-year\/2-year U.S. Treasury note spread ended the day at 0.42%, essentially unchanged from Thursday\u2019s settlement. The 10-year note settled at 1.943% and the 2-year at 1.516% on Friday. The yield curve had narrowed to by about 2 basis points in early trading Monday.\u00a0 USYC10Y2Y<\/p>\n
Here are the five S&P 500 stocks that closed with the largest gains on Friday: Newell Brands (up 11.07%), Baker Hughes (up 6.2%), Occidental Petroleum (up 5.65%), Newmont (up 5.5%), and Coterra Energy (up 4.87%).<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s biggest losers among S&P 500 stocks were Under Armour (down 12.49%), AMD (down 10.01%), Xilinx (down 9.99%), Epam Systems (down 9.418%), and Illumina (down 7.59%).<\/p>\n
Here are the\u00a0 Monday premarket winners and losers. Not all are S&P 500 stocks.<\/p>\n
Among Monday\u2019s premarket leaders is Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) which traded up by around 7.7% at $123.35 in a 52-week range of $105.45 to $176.66. The Wall Street Journal on Friday cited unnamed sources who claimed networking giant Cisco Systems had made a $20 billion offer for the cloud software company. That\u2019s a premium of about 11% to Spunk\u2019s market cap at Friday\u2019s close. According to the WSJ, \u201cthe offer was made recently and the companies aren\u2019t currently in active talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) traded up by about 0.8% in a 52-week range of $65.67 to $98.45. Micron stock rose added more than 10% last week on no particular news. Recent strength in other semiconductor stocks along with a manufacturing glitch with Western Digital\u2019s 3D NAND flash chips fed the gains.<\/p>\n
Allegro Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGM) traded up about 2.9% at $28.33 in a 52-week range of $22.05 to $38.28. The sensor and ASIC maker reported better-than-expected results earlier this month and issued upside guidance. Shares have traded down 3% so far in February.<\/p>\n
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) traded up by about 3.6% at $15.91 in a 52-week range of $14.95 to $23.00. These are the company\u2019s non-voting Class C shares that closed Friday at a discount of about 14.2% to the Class A (UAA) voting shares. Investors have narrowed that gap to around 9.4% in premarket trading Monday.<\/p>\n
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) traded up by about 0.7% at $100.44 in a 52-week range of $85.56 to $108.38. The utility giant\u2019s dividend yield of 3.95% makes it a good safe haven in uncertain times.<\/p>\n
Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) traded down about 4.1% at $89.70 in a 52-week range of $66.38 to $304.10. The biotech company\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine last week received interim approval for use in Singapore and a boost from anti-vaxxers in Germany who have signed up for the two-dose regimen of Nuxavoxid.<\/p>\n
Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) traded down by about 2.8% at $156.85 in a 52-week range of $117.34 to $497.49. Biotech stocks are taking a hit generally following a report from Bloomberg that inflows to healthcare funds have slipped from around $5 billion a month in early 2020 to around $800 million.<\/p>\n
Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) traded down about 2.5% at $225.20 in a 52-week range of $133.82 to $291.48. The lithium miner had no specific news and is scheduled to report quarterly results after markets close on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Caesars Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: CZR) traded down about 2.6% at $81.54 in a 52-week range of $68.00 to $119.81. The casino operator had no specific news.<\/p>\n
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX) traded down about 0.8% at $67.52 in a 52-week range of $42.36 to $79.77. The lumber supplier said this morning that it has agreed to sell to its partner, Resolute Forest Products, two 50% stakes in joint ventures between the two firms.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n