Nasdaq Moves Higher; US Crude Stocks Drop More than Projected

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining over 80 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.42% to 33,784.59 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 13,640.83. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.01% to 4,378.08.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Communication services shares jumped by 0.7% on Wednesday.
• In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 9.603 million barrels in the week ending June 23, versus market estimates of a 1.757 million decline.

Equities Trading UP

• Kaleyra, Inc. (NYSE:KLR) shares shot up 39% to $6.69 after Tata Communications Limited announced it has entered an agreement to acquire the company.
• Shares of Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NERV) got a boost, shooting 56% to $9.37. Minerva Neurosciences announced $20 million in private placement priced at a premium to market.
• Theriva Biologics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TOVX) shares were also up, gaining 32% to $1.0899 after the company announced FDA orphan drug designation to VCN-01 for pancreatic cancer.

Equities Trading DOWN

• AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares dropped 27% to $4.65 after the company announced pricing of an upsized offering of Class A common stock.
• Shares of Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONN) were down 20% to $0.5373 after announcing $2.25 million registered direct offering of 5 million at $0.45/share.
• Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGTX) was down, falling 20% to $1.9980 after the company released topline data from Phase 2 SEQUEL Study Of CT1812 in 16 adults with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $68.52 while gold traded down 0.5% at $1,915.00.

Silver traded down 1.1% to $22.715 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.8% to $3.7210.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.75%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.59% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.96% The German DAX gained 0.85% French CAC 40 rose 0.98% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.82%.

Bank lending to households in the Eurozone rose by 2.1% year-over-year to EUR 6.87 trillion in May. German GfK Consumer Climate Indicator fell to a reading of -25.4 heading into July versus a revised level of -24.4 in the earlier month.

Industrial producer prices in Italy dropped by 4.3% year-over-year in May, while annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 6.4% in June, the lowest in fourteen months. Retail sales in Spain climbed by 6% year-over-year in May, while consumer confidence indicator in France rose to 85 in June from 83 in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumping 2.02%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.12%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipping 0.01%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex jumped 1.6%.

Profits earned by China's industrial firms dipped by 18.8% year-over-year to CNY 2,668.89 billion during the first five months of the year.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the U.S. increased 3% in the week ended June 23, 2023.
• The U.S. trade deficit in goods shrank to $91.1 billion in May versus a revised $97.1 billion in the prior month.
• Wholesale inventories fell 0.1% month-over-month in May versus a 0.3% decline in April.
• US crude oil inventories dropped by 9.603 million barrels in the week ending June 23, versus market estimates of a 1.757 million decline.

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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 107,298,300 cases with around 1,168,040 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,994,030 cases and 531,900 deaths, while France reported over 40,135,200 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 690,892,530 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,895,110 deaths.