The Nasdaq was last seen up over 1%
Markets are mixed midday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) last seen down 54 points, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is up over 1%, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is flat. All three indexes are set for steep weekly losses, however. The Dow is headed for its biggest one-week percentage drop since October 2020, while the S&P 500 is eyeing its worst week since March 2020. The Fed's historic interest rate hike pressured stocks this week, along with several economic data points that missed analysts' expectations.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) is seeing an unusual amount of options activity today, with 28,000 calls across the tape so far, which is double the volume that's typically seen at this point. The most popular contract is the July 24 call, followed by the June 20.50 call, the latter of which expires after the close. X was last seen up 1.9% at $19.96, after issuing an upbeat second-quarter profit forecast. Despite this, BMO and Credit Suisse both cut their price targets to $23 and $44, respectively. Year-to-date, X remains down 16.6%.
One of the best stocks on the Nasdaq today is AeroClean Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AERC). The equity was last seen up 14.1% to trade at $20.22, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared its Purgo air purification technology earlier this month, which is able to eliminate microbes such as the Covid-19 virus. AERC is up 94% year-to-date, and recently found support at its 10-day moving average.
One of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq is Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:NEPT). The security was last seen down 20.2% to trade at $2.17. While no catalyst seems to be driving the equity lower, NEPT is trading at record lows, and now suffers an 83.4% year-to-date deficit.