U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index falling over 200 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded down 0.42% to 51,135.81 while the NASDAQ rose 0.86% to 27,028.35. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 7,695.23.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Information technology shares jumped by 1.2% on Wednesday.
In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples stocks fell by 1.2%.
Top Headline
Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG) posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.
The company posted adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share, beating market estimates of 28 cents per share. The company’s sales came in at $2.596 billion versus estimates of $2.589 billion.
Equities Trading UP
- Capital Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CBNK) shares shot up 12% to $39.90. Peoples Bancorp Inc. and Capital Bancorp announced a merger agreement.
- Shares of Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:CNTB) got a boost, surging 41% to $1.40 after the company announced preliminary topline data from its global Phase 2 study evaluating rademikibart.
- FormFactor Inc (NASDAQ:FORM) shares were also up, gaining 8% to $147.56. Deutsche Bank analyst George Brown initiated coverage on FormFactor with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $200.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Darkiris Inc. (NASDAQ:DKI) shares dipped 38% to $1.57 after the company issued business update on Cine3.AI global expansion and entertainment technology ecosystem.
- Shares of Trulieve Cannabis Corp (NYSE:TRLV) were down 12% to $10.92.
- Rafael Holdings Inc (NYSE:RFL) was down, falling 37% to $1.27 after the company announced topline results from the Pivotal Phase 3 TransportNPC™ Study of Trappsol Cyclo in Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC).
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $90.52 while gold traded up 0.8% at $4,213.50.
Silver traded up 0.2% to $61.285 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.3% to $6.62.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.6%, while France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.8%.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumping 1.94%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 0.37%, China’s SSE Composite Index gaining 0.31% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.07%.
Economics
- The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% month-over-month, below economists’ expectations of 0.4%.
- On an annual basis, headline PCE inflation held at 3.4%, matching July’s revised reading and below the 3.7% consensus.
- Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% month-over-month, compared with a 0.3% forecast. The annual core rate slowed to 3.0% from 3.3%, below expectations of 3.3%.
- Second-quarter GDP growth was revised up, to 2.2% from 1.5%.
- U.S. private businesses added 90,000 jobs in September, above market estimates of 70,000, compared to a revised 36,000 gain in August.
- The U.S. goods trade deficit increased to $132.6 billion in August from $118.9 billion in the previous month.
- Personal income rose by 0.2% month-over-month in August.
- U.S. personal consumption expenditures rose by 0.9%, in August.
- U.S. crude inventories jumped by 0.922 million barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 25, compared to market estimates of a 0.3 million-barrel draw.
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