Dear Readers,

U.S. stock markets edged lower on Monday as investors anticipated key upcoming events, including the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates and the release of May's inflation figures.

At 11:38 AM ET, the Dow was down -48.33 points, or -0.12%, at $38750.67. The Nasdaq Composite added 44.64 points, or 0.23%, at $19045.5942. The S&P 500 rose 3.2998 points, or 0.0617%, at $5350.29. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 6 showed negative movement, with Consumer Defensive leading the way with -0.4% decrease.

The focus on these economic indicators intensifies following robust jobs report last Friday, which suggests the possibility that the Fed may delay rate cuts.

Investors are keenly awaiting the Fed's new projections regarding the timing and frequency of future rate reductions. Currently, market expectations, as shown by the CME FedWatch tool, forecast only one rate cut this year, likely in November.

Additionally, attention is on Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, where new software updates are expected to be unveiled.

Top Movers: Under $10

KWESST Micro Systems Inc. (KWE) is up 91.95% today to trade at the current level of $0.77. This comes after the company reported that it has been awarded a sub-contract by Thales Canada.

Wearable Devices Ltd (WLDS) zoomed 18.25% in today’s trade to $0.40 after announcing the successful completion of its first phase of integration with Qualcomm's Snapdragon Spaces™, extended reality (XR) Developer Platform.

In current trading, TransCode Therapeutics Inc (RNAZ) stock is at $1.33 following the announcement from the company that it has received notice from the NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) that the Company has regained compliance with all applicable Nasdaq listing standards.

Spectaire Holdings Inc (SPEC) rose 15.53% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $0.50. The company announced a purchase order and delivery of its advanced AireCore units to American Ag Energy, a Boston-based high-efficiency biomass-to-fuel reactor company.

In the current trading session, Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc (CLDI) jumped 15.49% to $0.22 over a previous close of $0.19 after reporting that it entered into a collaboration agreement with SIGA Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) in the first quarter of 2024.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

B2gold Corp (BTG) 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 $0.04 per share. It has fixed June 11 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on June 24. Last year, the company distributed a total of $0.16 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, BTG has a trailing yield of 6.05% on the current stock price of $2.64.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends tomorrow is NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), having a market capitalization of $300.15B. It will pay a dividend of $0.01 per share, the payment date of which is June 28. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 0.13%.

Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) will be the talk of stock market on Tuesday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.37 per share, and in the last 12 months, it paid a total of $1.04 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that ROST has a trailing yield of 0.72% on the current share price of $144.13.

Penns Woods Bancorp, Inc. (PWOD) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from PWOD will amount to $0.32 per share. June 11 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for June 25. In the previous year, PWOD distributed a total of $0.96 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for PWOD stands at 4.82% based on the current stock price of $19.92.

MidCap Financial Investment Corporation (MFIC) will be paying out a dividend of $0.38 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of June 11. Over the past 12 months, MFIC has paid out a total of $1.52 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, MFIC boasts an impressive trailing yield of 9.62% on the current share price of $15.80.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Charles Hoskinson announces major event in Cardano ecosystem for June, including upcoming Chang fork and Cardano Node reaching version 9.0.
  

• Solana Foundation removes validator operators involved in sandwich attacks on traders.
  

• Ripple strengthens ties with Republic of Georgia, exploring digitization of local economy with National Bank of Georgia.

• Akira ransomware targets businesses in Singapore after stealing $42 million globally.
  

• South Korea's FSC issues guidelines on treating NFTs as virtual assets, regulating similarly to crypto if lacking distinguishing traits.

Most Shorted Stocks

MicroCloud Hologram Inc (HOLO) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 68.51% 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 0.1 Days to Cover. This represents a change of -120000 shares, which corresponds to a -8.82% decrease in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $1.91 million. The average daily volume stands at 12.63M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $9.16M.

The Childrens Place Inc with the symbol PLCE currently has a short interest of 62.01%. The short interest has changed by -330000 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 2.9 Days to Cover. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $29.69 million. On an average day, 1.09M shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $124.76M.

For the stock B. Riley Financial Inc (RILY), the current short interest is at 52.18%. This represents a significant short interest change of -790000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage decrease of -8.75%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 5.7 Days to Cover. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $182.68 million.

With the symbol BMEA, the stock currently has a short interest of 47.23%. The short interest change is -830000 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of -5.94%. It would take approximately 13.3 Days to Cover days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $36.17 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 1.13M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $157.82M.

The stock PHAT has a current short interest of 43.16%. The short interest percentage has experienced an increase of +3.22% while there was a change of 380000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 16.3 Days to Cover. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $141.12 million. Trading activity averages at 667.64K shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $628.72M.

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Best Regards,
Stocks Telegraph Team