Why U.S. Stocks Are Trading Higher, GDP Report And More

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 180 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.58% to 31,125.17 while the NASDAQ rose 0.32% to 11,217.83. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.38% to 3,835.98.

Also check this: McCormick, General Mills And 3 Stocks To Watch Heading Into Wednesday

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 0.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PropertyGuru Limited PGRU, up 5% and AdTheorent Holding Company Inc ADTH up 6%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell by 1.3%.

Top Headline

The US economy contracted by an annualized rate of 1.6% on quarter in the first quarter, compared to a 1.5% decline in the second estimate. The country’s economy recorded the first contraction since the pandemic-induced recession in 2020.

Equities Trading UP

Trevi Therapeutics, Inc. TRVI shares shot up 24% to $2.51 after the company announced positive results from its Phase 2b/3 PRISM trial of Haduvio in treating prurigo nodularis, a chronic disease characterized by severe pruritus and the presence of nodules, lesions, and excoriations.

Shares of 2U, Inc. TWOU got a boost, shooting 21% to $11.24. Indian online education provider Byju’s offered to buy 2U for $15 a share in cash, valuing the edtech company at more than $1 billion, reported Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Integrated Media Technology Limited IMTE shares were also up, gaining 19% to $3.45.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. ASPN shares tumbled 42% to $8.57 following news of a $225 million offering by the company. The offering follows news earlier in June of reduced 2022 bottom-line guidance by the Aspen Aerogels.

Shares of Agile Therapeutics, Inc. AGRX were down 27% to $1.7592. Agile Therapeutics filed for offering of up to 15.7 million shares.

Icosavax, Inc. ICVX was down, falling 25% to $6.31 after the company announced interim results from its Phase 1/1b clinical trial of IVX-121, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) F antigen, in young and older adults.

Also check out: U.S. Stock Futures Edge Higher; GDP Report In Focus

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $113.12, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,823.10.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $20.695 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.7920.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.9%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.01% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.6%. The German DAX dropped 1.7%, French CAC 40 fell 1.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.2%.

Retail sales in Spain rose by 1.4% year-over-year in May compared to revised 1.6% increase in the prior month, while annual inflation rate increased to 10.2% in June from 8.7% in May. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.6% year-over-year in May.

Economics

The US economy contracted by an annualized rate of 1.6% on quarter in the first quarter, compared to a 1.5% decline in the second estimate. The country’s economy recorded the first contraction since the pandemic-induced recession in 2020.

Corporate profits in the US dropped 4.9% to $2.40 trillion in the first quarter.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The survey of business uncertainty report for June will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Check out this: US GDP And Other Macro Issues For Wednesday

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 89,030,720 cases with around 1,041,350 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,436,430 cases and 525,070 deaths, while Brazil reported over 32,207,080 COVID-19 cases with 670,900 deaths. In total, there were at least 550,871,330 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,354,200 deaths.