Dear Readers,

The S&P 500 fell slightly Tuesday as Wall Street looked to find its footing after an uneven start to the month.

At 11:04 AM ET, the Dow was down -19.38 points, or -0.0502%, at $38551.66. The Nasdaq Composite lost -23.84 points, or -0.13%, at $18577.1392. The S&P 500 declined -14.6997 points, or -0.2782%, at $5268.7. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 6 showed negative movement, with Information Technology leading the way with a -0.65% decrease.

Investors also parsed a fresh reading on job openings. Employment data from the Labor Department showed 8.059 million vacancies in April, the lowest level in over three years. An estimate from Dow Jones called for 8.4 million openings.

Investors want a labor market that’s weak enough to allow the central bank to cut interest rates, but not so weak that it worry over a potential recession rise.

The move comes after the Dow fell more than 115 points, or 0.3%, on the first trading day of June. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both rose modestly on Monday.

Weak manufacturing data weighed on market sentiment, as investors are waiting to see if growth can hold up while the Federal Reserve waits for inflation to decline enough to cut interest rates.

Top Movers: Under $10

Sobr Safe Inc (SOBR) is up 124.06% today to trade at the current level of $0.59. This comes after SOBR Safe, announced that it has signed hardware/software agreements with prominent recovery services Hired Power and The Firm.

Wimi Hologram Cloud Inc ADR (WIMI) zoomed 44.67% in today’s trade to $1.24. This rally can be attributed to news that WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. announced that WiMi and MicroAlgo will jointly establish a micro-consciousness quantum research center.

In current trading, Microvast Holdings Inc (MVST) stock is at $0.41 following news that Microvast Holdings, Inc. has completed the initial $12 million draw of a $25 million secured debt facility provided by Yang Wu, its Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The draw will primarily provide working capital to continue the Company’s U.S. operations.

TeraWulf Inc (WULF) rose 15.37% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $2.37. The strong performance of WULF stock came as investors were encouraged by the news that TeraWulf Inc. provided an unaudited monthly production and operations update for May 2024.

In the current trading session, Oblong Inc (OBLG) jumped 12.91% to $0.29 over a previous close of $0.25 as Oblong, Inc. announced that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Dwellwell Analytics, to acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests of Dwellwell.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

Halliburton Co. (HAL) is about to trade ex-dividend tomorrow, meaning that investors who buy the stock after tomorrow will not be eligible for the next dividend payment. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.17 per share. The company has fixed June 05 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on June 26. Last year, the company distributed a total of $0.65 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, HAL has a trailing yield of 1.92% on the current stock price of $33.94.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends tomorrow is Vector Group Ltd (VGR), having a market capitalization of $1.75B. It will pay a dividend of $0.2 per share, the payment date of which is June 14. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 7.20%.

Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) will be the talk of stock market on Wednesday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.28 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of $1.02 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that SLB has a trailing yield of 2.37% on the current share price of $43.23.

Tomorrow, Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from HOG will amount to $0.17 per share. June 05 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for June 21. In the previous year, HOG distributed a total of $0.50 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for HOG stands at 1.40% based on the current stock price of $35.89.

PVH Corp (PVH) will be paying out a dividend of $0.04 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of June 05. Over the past 12 months, PVH has paid out a total of $0.15 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, PVH boasts an impressive trailing yield of 0.12% on the current share price of $121.40.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Epoch Times CFO Bill Guan has been charged with leading a yearslong scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds. The scheme involved using cryptocurrency to purchase crime proceeds at a discount and funneling them into the company’s accounts, resulting in a significant increase in Epoch Times’ reported annual revenue.
  

• Australia’s Monochrome Asset Management has launched its Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) on the Cboe Australia exchange, making it the nation’s first and only ETF to directly hold Bitcoin. Prior to IBTC, Australian investors were limited to ETFs with indirect Bitcoin exposure or offshore Bitcoin products.
  

• The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has launched the first phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, focusing on large-value payment settlements among major local and international banks. The project aims to explore distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, liquidity, and securities transactions.
  

• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) sought a civil penalty of AU$350,000 from Block Earner, a cryptocurrency company, for offering interest-bearing crypto products without an appropriate license. However, the court ruled in favor of Block Earner, recognizing their honest efforts and relieving them from liability for the penalty.
  

• Deutsche Bank has teamed up with Austrian crypto broker Bitpanda to process customer deposits and withdrawals. Bitpanda users in Germany will now have access to local bank account numbers, allowing for seamless fiat currency transactions through Germany’s largest bank.

Most Shorted Stocks

CompoSecure Inc (CMPO) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 32.91% short interest. The days to cover ratio, a measure of how long it would take for all the short positions to be covered based on average trading volume, is 14.0 Days to Cover. This represents a change of -70000 shares, which corresponds to a -1.64% decrease in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $25.48 million. The average daily volume stands at 318.06K shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $125.41M.

The Altimmune Inc with the symbol ALT currently has a short interest of 32.52%. The short interest has changed by 750000 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 5.5 Days to Cover. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $177.1 million. On an average day, 3.49M shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $544.73M.

With the symbol LAZR, the stock currently has a short interest of 21.46%. The short interest change is 7430000 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of +8.42%. It would take approximately 10.1 Days to Cover days to cover all the short positions. The company boasts an average daily volume of 9.28M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $675.11M.

The stock LMND has a current short interest of 31.86%. The short interest percentage has experienced decrease of -2.40% while there was a change of -400000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 8.4 Days to Cover. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $1.55 billion. Trading activity averages at 1.50M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $1.14B.

AI stocks to Watch

According to our ST Score evaluation, NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) emerges as a high-quality stock in the EV industry, attaining an impressive score of 59.0. The stock's profitability, growth, and Piotroski Score are strong. However, its value is weak. Additionally, it is neutral in terms of performance, financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast.

Our ST Score also classifies Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM) as a high-quality EV stock today, presenting a Score of 60.0. The stock has strong fundamentals in terms of profitability, financial strength, and stock sentiment. However, it has weak growth. The value, performance, Piotroski Score, and forecast are neutral.

Another stock in the category, Arista Networks Inc (ANET) has the ST Score of 56.0, which means that the stock carries the potential for higher returns. The stock is strong in profitability, and financial strength but weak in value. Performance, growth, stock sentiment, piotroski score, and forecast suggest a neutral outlook.

NICE Ltd ADR (NICE) stock has the ST Score of 58.0 which implies that the EV company has a high probability of beating the market. The stock's strengths lie in its profitability, and Piotroski Score, but its weaknesses are in its growth. However, it shows neutral outlook in value, performance, financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast.

Best Regards,
Stocks Telegraph Team