Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Turns Higher; Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 27338.53 while the NASDAQ rose 1.28% to 10081.60. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.47% to 3222.16.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,979,890 cases with around 112,000 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 739,500 COVID-19 cases with 38,400 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 493,020 confirmed cases and 6,350 deaths. In total, there were at least 7,257,510 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 411,680 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 2.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ideanomics, Inc. IDEX, up 16%, and Sequans Communications S.A. SQNS, up 16%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares tumbled 2.1%.

Top Headline

US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and announced plans to maintain the current pace of bond buying at $80 billion per month.

Fed also projects no rate increases through 2022.

Equities Trading UP

Jiayin Group Inc. JFIN shares shot up 647% to $22.04 after gaining 21% on Tuesday. Jiayin Group is expected to release quarterly earnings on June 11.

Shares of Lakeland Industries, Inc. LAKE got a boost, shooting 21% to $19.31 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Curis, Inc. CRIS shares were also up, gaining 100% to $2.44 after the company announced that the FDA gave clearance for its IND application for CI-8993 monoclonal anti-VISTA antibody.

Equities Trading DOWN

Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. SOLO shares tumbled 27% to $1.8501. ElectraMeccanica priced its 10 million share offering at $2 per share.

Shares of Immuron Limited IMRN were down 41% to $11.80 as the stock continues to experience volatility. The company said it is not aware of any information that could explain recent trading activity.

Fangdd Network Group Ltd. DUO was down, falling 63% to $17.53 after the company reported Q1 earnings results and issued Q2 sales guidance..

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $39.32, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,718.30.

Silver traded down 0.2% Wednesday to $17.765, while copper rose 2.4% to $2.6615.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.38%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.14%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.86%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 slipped 0.7%, French CAC 40 fell 0.82% and UK shares fell 0.1%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index fell 0.1% for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% decline.

U.S. crude inventories gained 5.7 million barrels for the week ended June 5, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a drop of 3.2 million barrels. Gasoline supply increased 900,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles rose 1.6 million barrels.

The U.S. government’s budget deficit increased 92% year-over-year to $399 billion in May.