U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 1.5% on Tuesday.

The Dow traded down 0.35% to 38,494.51 while the NASDAQ fell 1.51% to 15,537.95. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.86% to 4,962.63

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares rose by 1.1% on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, information technology shares fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index fell 0.4% for January, versus market expectations for a 0.3% decline.

Equities Trading UP

Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MNPR) shares shot up 160% to $0.8844 after the company announced it received Human Research Ethics Committee clearance in Australia to commence a Phase 1 dosimetry trial of its novel radiopharmaceutical MNPR-101-Zr.

Shares of AgriFORCE Growing Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:AGRI) got a boost, surging 136% to $0.5052 after the company announced the USPTO granted Patent No. 11,895,958 entitled "STRUCTURES FOR GROWING PLANTS (TO GENERATE MICRO-ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS)" to the company.

TRxADE HEALTH, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDS) shares were also up, gaining 114% to $8.88. TRxADE HEALTH announced the sale of assets of subsidiary Trxade, Inc. to Micro Merchant Systems for $22.5 million, with potential additional $7.5 million payout.

Equities Trading DOWN

RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAPT) shares dropped 63% to $9.60 as the company announced a clinical hold on studies evaluating zelnecirnon.

Shares of Summit Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SMMT) were down 26% to $3.7499 after reporting fourth-quarter results.

Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) was down, falling 11% to $37.47 following fourth-quarter results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $78.45 while gold traded up 0.7% at $2,039.10.

Silver traded down 1.7% to $23.08 on Tuesday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.85.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.09%, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.16% while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.97% The German DAX fell 0.08% French CAC 40 rose 0.44% while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.13%.

Construction output in the Eurozone increased 1.9% from the prior year in December, recording the sharpest surge since February. The current account surplus in the Eurozone rose to €42.66 billion in December compared to €16.62 billion in the year-ago period. Passenger car registrations in the European Union jumped 12.1% year-over-year to 851.7 thousand units in January.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.28%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 0.57%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.42% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.5%.

Hong Kong's unemployment rate came in unchanged at 2.9% in the three months ending January.

Economics

US leading index fell 0.4% for January, versus market expectations for a 0.3% decline.

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