Gold Moves Higher; Fed Leaves Key Overnight Interest Rate Unchanged

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 200 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.59% to 34,720.69 while the NASDAQ fell 0.07% to 13,668.37. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.17% to 4,451.42.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares jumped by 0.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

The U.S. Federal Reserve left key overnight interest rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50% and sees one more 25-basis-point rate hike by the end of the year.

Equities Trading UP

Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS) shares shot up 23% to $10.84. Steelcase reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Shares of Cambridge Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATC) got a boost, shooting 26% to $61.06 after the company announced it entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Eastern Bankshares.

Fresh Tracks Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRTX) shares were also up, gaining 55% to $0.90 after the company announced its Board of Directors has approved a plan of liquidation and dissolution.

Equities Trading DOWN

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEEL) shares dropped 71% to $0.2934 after the company announced its SLS-002 Phase II study did not meet the pre-defined primary endpoint due to limited sample size.

Shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRY) were down 55% to $2.9750. The FDA issued a Complete Response Letter regarding ARS Pharmaceuticals’ New Drug Application (NDA) for neffy (epinephrine nasal spray) in the treatment of Allergic Reactions (Type I), including anaphylaxis (fatal allergic reaction) for adults and children ≥30 kg.

IceCure Medical Ltd (NASDAQ:ICCM) was down, falling 36% to $0.58 after the company announced the FDA has at this time denied its De Novo Classification request for breast cancer which was submitted based on interim analysis from its ICE3 study.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $90.61 while gold traded up 0.5% at $1,963.40.

Silver traded up 1% to $23.70 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.7595.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.91% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.93% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.24% The German DAX gained 0.75% French CAC 40 rose 0.67%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.64%.

Construction output in the Eurozone increased by 1.0% year-over-year in July versus a 0.8% decline in the prior month. Passenger car registrations in the European Union climbed 21.0% year-over-year to 787.6 thousand units in August. Producer prices in Germany fell by 12.6% year-over-year in August.

UK’s producer prices fell by 0.4% year-over-year in August versus a revised 0.7% decline in July, while consumer price inflation in the UK fell to 6.7% in August from 6.8% a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.66%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.62% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.52%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, declined 1.18%.

The People's Bank of China held its lending rates at the September fixing. Japanese trade deficit fell to JPY 930.5 billion in August from JPY 2,790.4 billion in the year-ago month.

Economics

Mortgage applications in the U.S. surged 5.4% in the week ending Sept. 15, recording the first increase in three weeks.

U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 2.135 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 15, versus market expectations for a 2.2 million draw, the EIA said.

The U.S. Federal Reserve left key overnight interest rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50% and sees one more 25-basis-point rate hike by the end of the year.

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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 108,490,720 cases with around 1,175,390 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,998,240 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 695,538,090 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,918,070 deaths.