U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.08% to 42,172.43 while the NASDAQ gained 0.74% to 19,151.42. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 5,900.93.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 1.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, health care stocks fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 3.454 million barrels in the week ended May 9, compared to market estimates of a 1 million barrel decline.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $63.33 while gold traded down 1.9% at $3,186.40.

Silver traded down 2% to $32.440 on Wednesday, while copper fell 1.4% to $4.6550.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.24%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.52%. London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.21%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 0.47% and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.47% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei falling 0.14%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 2.30%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.86% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.22%.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage application volumes increased by 1.1% from the previous week in the week ending May 9, following an 11% surge in the prior period.
• U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 3.454 million barrels in the week ended May 9, compared to market estimates of a 1 million barrel decline.

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