Origin Agritech Stock Gains 9%

Shares of Origin Agritech Limited (SEED) gained nearly 9% on Friday morning despite no stock-related new statement. SEED is currently trading at $7.73, up $0.63 or 8.87%, on the Nasdaq.

Origin Agritech operates an agricultural biotechnology and an e-commerce platform in China. The company engages in crop seed breeding and genetic improvement activities.

With His Sci-Fi Android, a Filmmaker Considers What It Means to Be Alive

Kogonada, whose new film is the futuristic A.I. drama “After Yang,” reflects on the nature of his work, and of existence.

By Brandon Yu

Gold Fields Continues To Trade Higher

Gold Fields Ltd (GFI) shares are gaining more than 5 percent on Friday morning trade continuing an uptrend for the last several weeks. There were no corporate announcements on the day to influence the stock movement.

Currently, shares are at $15.20, up 5.41 percent on a volume of 2,703,992. The shares have traded in a range of $7.75-$15.37 on average volume of 8,394,388 for the last 52 weeks.

Sweetgreen Rises On Growth In Q4 Revenue, Outlook

Sweetgreen, Inc. (SG) shares are surging more than 16 percent on Friday morning trade after the company announced the significant growth in fourth-quarter revenues.

For the quarter, revenues increased 63 percent to $96.4 million from $59.2 million in the previous year. Same store sales were up 36 percent.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2022, the company expects at least 35 new restaurant openings and revenues in a range of $515-$535 million. Same store sales projected to be between 20 and 26 percent. Analysts are looking for revenue of $513.12 million.

Gold Futures Settle Sharply Higher On Safe-haven Buying

Gold futures settled higher on Friday amid rising demand for the safe-haven asset following an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict after Russia attacked and captured the neighboring country’s major nuclear plant.

The Russian military, which scaled up its attack on Ukrainian cities on Friday, has reportedly taken control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Gold prices climbed higher despite the dollar firming up against other major currencies after data showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in February.

The dollar index surged up to 98.92, rising about 1.1%, before paring some gains.

Gold futures for April ended higher by $30.70 or about 1.6% at $1,966.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for May ended up by $0.577 at $25.789 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.9375 per pound, gaining $0.1560.

Data from the Labor Department showed non-farm payroll employment in the U.S. spiked by 678,000 jobs in February after surging by an upwardly revised 481,000 jobs in January.

Economists had expected employment to increase by 400,000 jobs compared to the addition of 467,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate dipped to 3.8% in February from 4% in January. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 3.9%.

Oil Futures Settle Sharply Higher Amid Supply Disruptions Concerns

Crude oil prices moved up sharply on Friday as worries about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict after Russia attacked and seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

As the war continues to rage, it is feared that Western countries will likely impose more stringent sanctions on Russia that could significantly disrupt oil exports from the country, which is the world’s biggest exporter of crude and oil products combined.

The Biden administration is reportedly weighing a ban on U.S. imports of Russian crude oil, as the Congress looks to punish the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up by $8.01 or about 7.4% at $115.68 a barrel, the highest settlement since September 2008. WTI crude futures skyrocketed 26.3% this week, the steepest climb in percentage terms since the week ending April 3, 2020.

According to reports in Iranian media, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s chief negotiator at the nuclear talks, said an agreement was likely over the next few days. A deal will likely pave the way for the legitimate return of Tehran’s oil to the market.

A report from Baker Hughes said the oil rigs count in the U.S. dropped by 3 to 519 in the week ending March 4. The number of total active drilling rigs in the U.S. remains unchanged at 650, the report said.

The report says the total active rig count – oil, gas and miscellaneous – is 247 more than the rig count this time last year.

Strong Job Growth Continues as Latest Covid Wave Eases

The U.S. economy added 678,000 jobs in February and unemployment fell to 3.8 percent, the lowest level since the pandemic took hold.

By Ben Casselman

Monthly change in jobs

Microsoft Suspends Sales And Service In Russia

Software behemoth Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Friday announced that it has suspended all sales and services in Russia, in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia,” Microsoft President Brad Smith in a statement.

“We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.”

“In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions,” he added.

Smith also revealed that Microsoft’s was able to act against Russia’s efforts to destroy or disrupt over 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations since the war began.

“We have also acted against cyberattacks targeting several additional civilian sites. We have publicly raised our concerns that these attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention,” Smith said.