Dear Readers,

Stocks inched higher on Monday, driven by gains in large technology stocks, as traders geared up for a week dominated by corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting.

This week's earnings reports continue to impress, with over 80% of S&P 500-listed companies exceeding expectations, according to FactSet.

Following a mixed week on Wall Street, Monday saw a positive turn, offering relief from recent market declines. However, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still expected to close April down over 2%, while the Dow is likely to drop more than 3%.

Later in the week, attention will shift to monetary policy, with the Fed's interest rate announcement scheduled for Wednesday. Although no change in borrowing costs is expected, investors will closely watch Chair Jerome Powell's post-announcement press conference for insights.

As of 12:21 PM ET, the Dow was up 86.26 points, or 0.23%, at $38325.93. The Nasdaq Composite added 55.8613 points, or 0.3153%, at $17774.16. The S&P 500 rose 15.0103 points, or 0.2943%, at $5114.97. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 6 showed negative movement, with Communication Services leading the way with a -1.19% decrease.

Top Movers: Under $10

Collective Audience Inc (CAUD) is up 103.82% today to trade at the current level of $0.79. This comes after the company reported that it has launched a strategic technology partnership with Insticator.

Mullen Automotive Inc (MULN) zoomed 28.96% in today’s trade to $4.07 after announcing that the California Air Resources Board has approved the Company’s all-electric Class 3 low cab forward, the 2024 Mullen THREE, for the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project.

In current trading, SINTX Technologies Inc (SINT) stock is at $0.06 after announcing a deep technical partnership and ceramic slurry supply agreement with Prodways Printers SAS (Prodways).

Jaguar Health Inc (JAGX) gained 15.22% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $0.20 after announcing that Jaguar family company Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo) is a Bronze Sponsor of the 10th Annual Elite Ped-GI Congress, which takes place May 2-4, 2024 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the current trading session, MAIA Biotechnology Inc (MAIA) jumped 14.44% to $3.36 over a previous close of $2.94. The company announced a share purchase by Director Stan Smith, Ph.D. in a private placement.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

Ally Financial Inc (ALLY) 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 $0.3 per share. It has fixed May 01 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on May 15. Last year, the company distributed a total of $0.90 to its shareholders. Based on last year's worth of payments, ALLY has a trailing yield of 2.30% on the current stock price of $39.20.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends tomorrow is Aon plc. (AON), having a market capitalization of $55.98B. It will pay a dividend of $0.68 per share, the payment date of which is May 15. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 0.87%.

Shares of Citizens Financial Group Inc (CFG) will be the talk of the stock market on Tuesday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.42 per share, and in the last 12 months, it paid a total of $1.68 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that CFG has a trailing yield of 4.78% on the current share price of $35.15.

NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from NRG will amount to $0.41 per share. May 01 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for May 15. In the previous year, NRG distributed a total of $1.54 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for NRG stands at 2.09% based on the current stock price of $73.53.

Oneok Inc. (OKE) will be paying out a dividend of $0.99 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of May 01. Over the past 12 months, OKE has paid out a total of $2.90 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, OKE boasts an impressive trailing yield of 3.57% on the current share price of $81.13.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Lazarus Group laundered over $200 million of stolen crypto between 2020 and 2023.

• Omnity integrates with Omnichain protocol for gas-free trading of Runes tokens on the Bitcoin network.

• Tether invests $200 million in Blackrock Neurotech, becoming a majority stakeholder.

• Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo predicts the cryptocurrency industry to hit a billion users by the end of 2025.

• Lido Finance reaches one million Ethereum validators, becoming the largest DeFi protocol.

• Solo Bitcoin miner earns a full 3.125 Bitcoin block reward.

Most Shorted Stocks

B. Riley Financial Inc (RILY) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 65.46% 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 7.2. This represents a change of -1630000 shares, which corresponds to a -13.30% decrease in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $408.83 million. The average daily volume stands at 1.61M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $1.17B.

The MicroCloud Hologram Inc with the symbol HOLO currently has a short interest of 42.90%. The short interest has changed by 22800 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 0.1. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $2.33 million. On an average day, 10.16M shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $17.82M.

For the stock Advantage Solutions Inc. (ADV), the current short interest is at 42.17%. This represents a significant short interest change of 300000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage increase of +4.27%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 10.7. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $32.65 million.

With the symbol AUUD, the stock currently has a short interest of 40.08%. The short interest change is 176600 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of +319.93%. It would take approximately 0.1 days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $12.44 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 3.10M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $1.39M.

The stock IBRX has a current short interest of 40.05%. The short interest percentage has experienced an increase of +0.13% while there was a change of 70000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 11.7. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $2.13 million. Trading activity averages at 5.41M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $6.18B.

Upcoming IPOs

RanMarine Technology B.V. (RAN) is all set for its debut on the NASDAQ exchange on April 30. The shares will be offered at a fixed price of $5.50 per share. With a total of 1,435,000 shares available, the company aims to raise approximately $7.89M through this IPO.

Viking Holdings Ltd. (VIK) will be entering the market with its IPO on May 01, on the NYSE exchange. The shares will be offered at a price range of $21.00 to $25:00 per share. They plan to offer 44,000,000 shares, targeting a deal size of $1.01B.

Key Mining Corp. (KMCM) is also scheduled to make its debut on the NYSEAMERICAN exchange on May 03. The shares will be offered at a fixed price of $2.25 per share. The IPO includes 4,444,444 shares, aiming for a deal size of $10.00M.

✨ If you like our content, be sure to check out: