Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Tumbles Over 100 Points; H&R Block Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks trade lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.41% to 32,028.20 while the NASDAQ fell 2.20% to 11,479.00. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.81% to 3,968.50.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. SMHI, up 12% and TORM plc TRMD up 15%.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 3.1%.

Top Headline

The US recorded a budget surplus of $308 billion in April versus from a $226 billion deficit in the year-ago period.

Equities Trading UP

Trecora Resources TREC shares shot up 27% to $9.55 as the company agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Balmoral Funds at $9.81 per share in cash or an enterprise value of $247 million.

Shares of Celsius Holdings, Inc. CELH got a boost, shooting 14% to $47.12 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales results.

H&R Block, Inc. HRB shares were also up, gaining 17% to $27.92 as the company posted upbeat Q3 results and raised FY22 sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Kornit Digital Ltd. KRNT shares tumbled 32% to $38.28 after the company reported downbeat Q1 sales.

Shares of View, Inc. VIEW were down 70% to $0.4141 after the company in a 10-Q filing said it does not currently have adequate financial resources to fund its forecasted operating costs and will look to raise capital.

IT Tech Packaging, Inc. ITP was down, falling 41% to $0.1896 after the company said Q1 sales results were lower year over year.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 5.5% to $105.20, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,851.40.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $21.495 on Wednesday while copper rose 1% to $4.1945.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.74%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.44% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 2.13%. The German DAX climbed 2.17%, French CAC 40 jumped 2.50% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.84%.

The annual inflation rate in Germany increased to 7.4% in April from 7.3% in the prior month..

Economics

Annual inflation rate in the US eased to 8.3% in April compared to a 41-year high level of 8.5% in the previous month. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 8.1%.

US crude oil inventories increased by 8.487 million barrels in the week ended May 6, following a 1.302 million barrel gain in the prior week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The US recorded a budget surplus of $308 billion in April versus from a $226 billion deficit in the year-ago period.

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 83,778,760 cases with around 1,025,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,110,580 cases and 524,150 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,594,380 COVID-19 cases with 664,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 518,581,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,280,530 deaths.