Dear Readers,

On Monday, the S&P 500 dipped, indicating that investors were finding it challenging to maintain the strong momentum seen in May.

At 11:13 AM ET, the Dow was down -200.66 points, or -0.5187%, at $38485.67. The Nasdaq Composite added 5.3984 points, or 0.0291%, at $18542.049. The S&P 500 declined -8.0195 points, or -0.152%, at $5269.49. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 9 showed negative movement, with Utilities leading the way with a -2.49% decrease.

Contributing to market apprehensions, the U.S. manufacturing sector displayed signs of weakening; the ISM manufacturing index fell to 48.7 in May, hinting at a contraction as readings below 50 suggest a shrinkage in the sector. This news sent Treasury yields and the dollar lower, particularly affecting cyclical stocks like those in the energy, industrial, and materials sectors, which are closely linked to economic performance.

As June begins, the market is poised for more economic indicators, with investors keenly awaiting private payroll data from ADP on Thursday, which will precede the critical jobs report for May, due on Friday.

Top Movers: Under $10

Microbot Medical Inc (MBOT) is up 121.01% today to trade at the current level of $2.21. This comes after Microbot Medical Inc. announced that it has received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval to proceed with its pivotal human clinical trial as part of its Investigational Device Exemption application for its LIBERTY® Endovascular Robotic Surgical System.

Power REIT (PW) zoomed 90.57% in today’s trade to $1.37.

In current trading, Affimed N.V. (AFMD) stock is at $6.54 after Affimed provided follow-up data of AFM24 plus Atezolizumab showing durable responses in heavily pretreated NSCLC EGFR wild-type patients and positive initial data from the NSCLC EGFR mutant cohort.

Bio-Path Holdings Inc (BPTH) rose 54.37% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $3.18. The update followed the news that Bio-Path Holdings, Inc., presented interim results from the Company’s Phase 2 study of prexigebersen (BP1001) in combination with decitabine and venetoclax for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, on June 1, 2024 in Chicago, IL.

In the current trading session, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC) jumped 12.93% to $4.89 over a previous close of $4.33 as GameStop (GME) and AMC stocks are climbing sharply after a new post from Roaring Kitty last night.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

Newmont Corp (NEM) 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 $0.25 per share. The company has fixed June 04 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on June 27. Last year, the company distributed a total of $1.05 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, NEM has a trailing yield of 2.50% on the current stock price of $42.05.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends tomorrow is Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), having a market capitalization of $114.57B. It will pay a dividend of $0.92 per share, the payment date of which is June 17. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 1.52%.

Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. ADR (ITUB) will be the talk of stock market on Tuesday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. In the last 12 months, the company paid a total of $0.22 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that ITUB has a trailing yield of 3.70% on the current share price of $6.03.

Tomorrow, Air Lease Corp (AL) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from AL will amount to $0.21 per share. June 04 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for July 08. In the previous year, AL distributed a total of $0.82 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for AL stands at 1.73% based on the current stock price of $47.37.

AMKOR Technology Inc. (AMKR) will be paying out a dividend of $0.08 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of June 04. Over the past 12 months, AMKR has paid out a total of $0.31 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, AMKR boasts an impressive trailing yield of 0.96% on the current share price of $31.97.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Recent BBC investigations have linked Ruja Ignatove to Bulgarian organized crime and raised suspicions about her possible murder. In 2019, a BBC podcast began detailing the story of how she vanished after scamming investors out of $4.5 billion with her fake cryptocurrency.

• During a state visit of UAE President to China, both nations committed to tackling cybercrime, including crypto-related fraud. They also recognized the potential of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to facilitate cross-border transactions.

• Despite regulatory crackdowns by President Tinubu’s administration on peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading, Nigerian interest in Bitcoin remains strong, with the country leading in global Bitcoin interest according to Google Trends. Geographic data indicates Delta state shows the highest interest, while Lagos, the commercial hub, surprisingly falls outside the top 15 cities.

• Top Russian companies are using cryptocurrencies like USDT to conduct international transactions, circumventing sanctions from the G7 and EU. These firms prefer crypto for its speed, low fees, and ability to bypass traditional financial systems, potentially leading to wider adoption amid increasing sanctions.

• Hong Kong police have warned of a surge in counterfeit banknotes linked to cryptocurrency scams, with 3,396 fake notes valued at HK$2.55 million seized between January and April, a marked increase from last year. Fraudsters use these notes, often disguised as high-denomination bills, to deceive victims in cryptocurrency transactions.

Most Shorted Stocks

Upstart Holdings Inc (UPST) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 34.53% 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 5.3 Days to Cover. This represents a change of 1740000 shares, which corresponds to a +7.17% increase in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $638.55 million. The average daily volume stands at 4.77M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $2.16B.

The Aurora Cannabis Inc with the symbol ACB currently has a short interest of 34.09%. The short interest has changed by 10000 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 0.7 Days to Cover. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $32.21 million. On an average day, 7.84M shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $95.95M.

For the stock Novavax, Inc. (NVAX), the current short interest is at 32.26%. This represents a significant short interest change of 360000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage increase of +0.80%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 3.5 Days to Cover. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $759.51 million.

With the symbol ZYXI, the stock currently has a short interest of 33.82%. The short interest change is -130000 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of -2.19%. It would take approximately 36.6 Days to Cover days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $451.09 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 148.14K shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $316.53M.

The stock KSS has a current short interest of 33.70%. The short interest percentage has experienced increase of +0.85% while there was a change of 310000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 6.8 Days to Cover. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $139.38 million. Trading activity averages at 6.18M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $2.66B.

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Best Regards,
Stocks Telegraph Team