Dow Jumps More Than 100 Points Following Release Of Fed Minutes
U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, following the release of minutes from the recent Federal Reserve meeting, which suggest inflation remains the central bank's top priority. The country's central bank reiterated its prior intentions to do whatever it takes to bring inflation down.
The Dow traded up 0.44% to 31,105.23 while the NASDAQ rose 0.73% to 11,405.42. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.61% to 3,854.93.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities shares rose by 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE:GNE), up 5% and Huaneng Power International, Inc. (NYSE:HNP) up 5%.
In trading on Wednesday, energy shares dipped by 2.4%.
Top Headline
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) agreed to acquire a 2% stake in Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V.'s (OTC:JTKWY) struggling U.S. meal delivery business Grubhub and offer its Prime members access to the service for a year.
Equities Trading UP
Resolute Forest Products Inc. (NYSE:RFP) shares shot up 64% to $20.45 after The Paper Excellence Group announced an agreement to acquire the company.
Shares of SCWorx Corp. (NASDAQ:WORX) got a boost, shooting 20% to $0.7453 after the company announced a common stock purchase agreement with an institutional investor for up to $5 million.
Inspira Technologies Oxy B.H.N. Ltd. (NASDAQ:IINN) shares were also up, gaining 63% to $2.04 after the company announced it has developed a non-invasive blood sensor designated to alert real-time change in patients' clinical condition.
Equities Trading DOWN
Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT) shares tumbled 25% to $23.62 after the company issued preliminary Q2 sales guidance below estimates. Multiple analysts also lowered their price targets on the stock.
Shares of Applied Molecular Transport Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTI) were down 24% to $2.3782 after the company announced top-line Phase 2 results from its MARKET combination trial of oral AMT-101 in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis.
T2 Biosystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTOO) was down, falling 13% to $0.1635. T2 Biosystems said it expects Q2 FY22 revenues of $5.8 million - $6.1 million, below the consensus of $6.87 million.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6% to $97.91, while gold traded down 1.5% to $1,737.00.
Silver traded up 0.1% to $19.14 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.4% to $3.4275.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.66%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.17% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.14%. The German DAX gained 1.56%, French CAC 40 climbed 2.03% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.04%.
Retail sales in the Eurozone rose 0.2% in May over a month ago, following from a 1.4% decline in the prior period, while construction PMI declined to 47 in June from 49.2 in May. The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI dropped to 52.6 in June from 56.4 in May, while German construction PMI rose to 45.9 from 45.4.
The S&P Global Italy’s construction PMI slipped to 50.4 in June from 54.3 a month ago, while French construction PMI dropped to 46.4 in June from 50.9. Industrial production in Spain climbed 3.8% year-over-year in May.
Economics
The S&P Global services PMI was revised higher to 52.7 in June versus a preliminary reading of 51.6, but down from May’s level of 53.4.
The ISM services PMI declined to 55.3 in June from 55.9 in the previous month, but still surpassed market estimates of 54.3.
The number of job openings declined to 11.254 million in May from a revised 11.681 million in April.
The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of its latest meeting.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 89,731,790 cases with around 1,043,870 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,547,800 cases and 525,270 deaths, while Brazil reported over 32,610,830 COVID-19 cases with 672,490 deaths. In total, there were at least 556,556,950 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,364,760 deaths.
