US Markets Round-Up

This week, the Russell 3000 index, an important benchmark of the US stock market across all the market capitalizations, started on a marginally negative note and remained volatile for the entire week. It made a low of 2496.94 during the week and settled at 2541.00 with a week till date (WTD) loss of ~0.57 percent on March 03, 2022. Other major indices such as S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite also showed bearish movement for the week. On March 03, 2022, the S&P 500 index settled at 4363.49 with a WTD loss of ~0.48 percent, while NASDAQ Composite Index settled at 13537.941 with a WTD loss of ~1.14 percent.

The markets swayed wildly as the war between Russia and Ukraine continued; however, improved numbers for ADP non-farm employment change, ISM manufacturing PMI and initial jobless claims limited the losses. As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the weekly US initial jobless claims numbers decreased to 215,000 from 233,000 (revised level) in the prior week.

Having understood the US market performance over the week, taking cues from major global news, and based on our technical analysis of the Russell 3000 index for the upcoming week, now let us have a look at the one NYSE/ NASDAQ listed stock pick from the technical standpoint. Noted below is our recommendation based on generic insights, entry price, target prices, and stop-loss for Antares Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRS) for the next 2-4 weeks duration:

Antares Pharma, Inc. 

Antares Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRS) is a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes pharmaceutical products and technologies. Noted below are the key price indicators for the stock:

Price Action Analysis (on the Weekly Chart) 

ATRS has recently broken a downward sloping trend line from the upside and is trading around the breakout level, indicating the possibility of an upside direction hereon. It has also broken a horizontal resistance level of USD 3.74 on the upside, further supporting a positive bias. Now the next major resistance level for the stock appears at USD 4.50 and prices may test this level in the short-term (2-4 weeks). A further breakout above USD 4.50 may extend buying in the stock.

Technical Indicators Analysis (On the Weekly Chart)

On the weekly chart, RSI (14-period) is trading at 55.91 levels, indicating the stock is successful in emerging out of the lows and heading towards the North. The volumes also seem supportive of the upside movement. Prices are trading above the trend-following indicator 21-period SMA, further supporting an up-move; however, the 50-period SMA is above the CMP and may act as the resistance levels on an immediate basis.

Financial Summary:

Summary of the Key Financial Metrics for the past four years for Antares Pharma, Inc. is as follows:

General Recommendation:

As per the above-mentioned price action and technical indicators analysis, we can conclude that Antares Pharma, Inc. is looking technically well-placed on the chart, and we have a ‘Speculative Buy’ rating on the stock. Investment decisions should be made depending on an investors’ appetite for upside potential, risks, and any previous holdings. This recommendation is purely based on technical analysis, and fundamental analysis has not been considered in this report. The summary of our recommendation is as follows:

Upcoming Major Global Economic Events

Market events occur on a day-to-day basis depending on the frequency of the data and generally include an update on employment, inflation, GDP, consumer sentiments, etc. Noted below are the upcoming week's major global economic events that could impact the Russell 3000 Index and stocks’ prices.

Investment Related Risks: Based on the technical analysis, the risks are defined as per risk-reward ratio (~0.60:1.00), however, returns are generated within 2-4 weeks’ time frame. This may be looked at by Investors with sufficient risk appetite looking for returns within short investment duration. Investment recommendation provided in this report is solely based on technical parameters, and fundamental performance of the stocks has not been considered in the decision-making process. Other factors which could impact the stock prices include market risks, regulatory risks, interest rates risks, currency risks, and social and political instability risks etc.

Note 1: Investors can consider exiting from the stock if the Target Price or Stop loss mentioned as per the technical analysis has been achieved and subject to the factors discussed above.