Inflation data is once more weighing on the tech sector
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is 151 points higher midday, as Wall Street weighs a batch of strong earnings reports against worse-than-expected weekly jobless claims. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are both in the red, the latter sharply lower as Big Tech struggles. Weighing on sentiment is the producer price index (PPI) for December, which was below analysts' estimates but still marked a 9.7% year-over-year jump -- the highest since 2010.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- See what has Delta stock soaring today.
- Annual dividend hike pushes Lennar stock higher.
- Plus, options traders blast TSM post-earnings; RMTI pops on regulatory approval; and ECOR falters.
Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) is seeing increased options activity today. So far, 219,000 calls and 74,000 puts have exchanged hands, which is nine times the intraday average. Most popular is the 1/14 145-strike call, followed by the 140-strike call in the same weekly series, with new positions being opened at the former. TSM was last seen up 6.2% to trade at $140.47, after the chipmaker reported record fourth-quarter profits and provided an upbeat fiscal first-quarter outlook. Over the past three months, TSM has now added 15.4%.
Towards the top of the Nasdaq today is Rockwell Medical Inc (NASDAQ:RMTI), last seen up 32.8% to trade at 53 cents. The shares are bouncing back from a Dec. 29, all-time low of 34 cents, after the company said it received regulatory approval for its iron supplementation therapy Triferic® AVNU in South Korea. Today's pop has RMTI eyeing its first close above the 80-day moving average since March. RMTI remains down 57.6% year-over-year, though.
electroCore, Inc.(NASDAQ: ECOR) is at the bottom of the Nasdaq, last seen down 13.6% to trade at 76 cents, though a reason for today's bear gap was not immediately clear. The company was in the spotlight yesterday, after its treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) received breakthrough designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The news helped the security briefly conquer the 80-day moving average, but today ECOR is set to breach the trendline once more. ECOR is down 54.8% year-over-year.