U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 150 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded up 0.32% to 52,675.73 while the NASDAQ rose 0.13% to 26,139.93. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.22% to 7,560.24.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 1.2% on Wednesday.
In trading on Wednesday, energy stocks fell by 0.5%.
Top Headline
Producer inflation came in well below expectations in June, reinforcing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged this month.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 0.3% month-over-month in June, below the flat monthly reading economists expected and a sharp reversal from May’s downwardly revised 0.6% surge. It marks the lowest monthly print since April 2025.
The annual producer inflation rate eased to 5.5%, from a downwardly revised 6.0%, versus the 6.2% consensus.
Equities Trading UP
- Electrovaya Inc (NASDAQ:ELVA) shares shot up 37% to $10.83. Electrovaya announced commercial relationship with Amazon.
- Shares of PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) got a boost, surging 15% to $54.56 following a report that Stripe and Advent International have proposed a joint acquisition of the digital payments firm in a deal valued at over $53 billion.
- Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) shares were also up, gaining 43% to $102.67 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued FY27 sales guidance above estimates.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Cardiff Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CRDF) shares dropped 33% to $0.87 after the company announced a $10 million offering of 8,571,429 shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants at $1.05 per share and accompanying warrant.
- Shares of Vivakor inc (NASDAQ:VIVK) were down 28% to $0.22 after the company announced a 1-for-20 reverse stock split.
- Gorilla Technology Group Inc (NASDAQ:GRRR) was down, falling 14% to $14.48 as the company priced $125 million senior unsecured convertible notes Series B due 2031.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $78.80 while gold traded down 0.1% at $4,064.00.
Silver traded down 0.9% to $58.585 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.4% to $6.4010.
Euro zone
European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4%. London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%, Germany’s DAX declined 0.7%, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2%.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.49%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 1.40%, China’s Shanghai Composite falling 0.29% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.17%.
Economics
- The New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index rose 10 points to a reading of 15.6 in July.
- U.S. producer prices fell 0.3% month-over-month in June, compared to a revised 0.6% gain in May and compared to market estimates of a flat reading.
- The volume of mortgage applications declined by 2.7% from the previous week during the week to July 10.
- U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 1.693 million barrels in the week ended July 10, compared to a 2.998 million-barrel increase in the previous week.
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