Stocks finished higher again on Monday, adding to an advance posted at the end of last week. Wall Street looked ahead to midterm election results, earnings data and a CPI report due out later in the week.
Amid the focus on politics, Digital World Acquisition (NASDAQ:DWAC) expanded its value by about two-thirds after Donald Trump suggested he would run for president again in 2024.
Among the other notable gainers on the session, Fluor (FLR) extended recent gains to set another 52-week high.
Looking at some of the day’s standout decliners, Verve Therapeutics (VERV) tumbled after facing a regulatory setback. Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) added to recent weakness to set a new 52-week low.
Standout Gainer
Digital World Acquisition (DWAC), the SPAC slated to bring Donald Trump’s media company public, experienced a wave of buying interest after the former U.S. president suggested that he expects to run again in 2024. Shares surged about 66% during the session.
Speaking at an event in Florida, Trump indicated that “I will probably have to do it again” while discussing a possible 2024 run, according to media reports. The former president did leave some mystery, however, adding “stay tuned.”
Bolstered by the news, DWAC jumped $11.62 to close at $29.10.
Shares reached a 52-week high of $101.87 in early March but fell sharply from there. The stock eventually hit a 52-week low of $15.20. DWAC has surged 82% over the past month.
Standout Decliner
Verve Therapeutics (VERV) endured a massive selling spree after the company faced a regulatory setback. The company dropped 30% on the day.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed a hold on an Investigational New Drug application related to VERV’s gene editing candidate VERVE-101. The product is currently undergoing a Phase 1 trial in New Zealand and the U.K.
VERV expects to receive an official letter from the FDA within 30 days detailing the reasons behind the hold.
The company also reported its Q3 results, including a GAAP loss of $0.79 per share. This was $0.06 per share wider than analysts had predicted. VERV reported a cash position of $550.7M as of Sept. 30.
Dragged down by the regulatory news, VERV plummeted $9.54 to close at $21.75. This marked its lowest finish since July.
Notable New High
Fluor (FLR) advanced another 7% on Monday, adding to gains posted over the past three weeks and extending its 52-week high. This included an upswing late last week as the engineering and construction firm reported its latest quarterly report.
FLR closed Monday’s trading at $33.97, an advance of $2.24 on the day. Shares also touched an intraday 52-week high of $34. Monday marked the 14th higher finish in the past 16 sessions.
On Friday, FLR announced a mixed quarterly report, with earnings that came up short of expectations. However, revenue rose 3% from last year to reach $3.61B and the firm’s ending backlog was up 30% from the previous quarter.
Taking a longer view, shares have climbed 20% in the past month and are 35% higher since the end of 2021.
Notable New Low
With CEO Elon Musk making a stream of headlines related to his recently closed purchase of Twitter, Tesla (TSLA) lost ground during Monday’s session, dropping by about 5%. This added to a slide that has marked trading since late September, taking shares of the megacap to a new 52-week low.
TLSA retreated $10.39 to close at $197.08. During the session, the stock touched an intraday 52-week low of $196.66. This was the first close below $200 (on a post-split basis) since June 2021.
Shares of the EV maker have lost more than half their value in 2022. Looking further back, shares reached an all-time peak of $414.50 in early November 2021.
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