Dow Rises Over 100 Points; US Crude Oil Inventories Decline Higher Than Expected

U.S. stocks extended gains midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.38% to 33,034.81 while the NASDAQ rose 0.75% to 12,474.61. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.47% to 4,148.20.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Energy Fuels Inc. UUUU, up 17% and Denison Mines Corp. DNN up 15%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

US crude oil inventories dropped by 3.282 million barrels in the week ended August 19, compared to analysts’ expectations of a 0.933-million-barrel drop. Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.027 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 0.661 million barrels last week, the EIA said..

Equities Trading UP

Bright Minds Biosciences Inc. DRUG shares shot up 77% to $2.33 as the stock continues to see volatility despite the company last week announcing it is not aware of any developments that would explain the recent surge. Bright Minds priced overnight marketed offering of 2.858 million units at $1.40 per unit.

Shares of SciSparc Ltd. SPRC got a boost, shooting 37% to $1.27 after the company announced additional pre-clinical results of its Psychedelic-based Pharma Collaboration for treatment for cocaine addiction using MEAI.

SuperCom Ltd. SPCB shares were also up, gaining 45% to $0.3783 after the company announced it was awarded a $33 million national electronic monitoring contract of an EU member country.

Equities Trading DOWN

ScanSource, Inc. SCSC shares tumbled 19% to $27.56 after the company posted downbeat Q4 earnings

Shares of Nordstrom, Inc. JWN were down 19% to $18.86. Nordstrom reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter, but lowered its FY22 outlook.

Citi Trends, Inc. CTRN was down, falling 17% to $25.28 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $94.61, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,765.70.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $19.02 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.2% to $3.6510.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.16%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.16% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.33%. The German DAX gained 0.12%, French CAC 40 rose 0.35% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.16%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders came in unchanged from a month ago in July, versus analysts’ estimates of a 0.6% increase and compared to a revised 2.2% growth in the previous month.

Pending home sales fell 1% month-over-month in July versus a revised 8.9% decline in June.

US crude oil inventories dropped by 3.282 million barrels in the week ended August 19, compared to analysts’ expectations of a 0.933-million-barrel drop. Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.027 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 0.661 million barrels last week, the EIA said..

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out this: Investor Optimism Decreases Further As Dow Tumbles 150 Points

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 95,537,990 cases with around 1,066,410 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,368,190 cases and 527,450 deaths, while France reported over 34,387,610 COVID-19 cases with 153,700 deaths. In total, there were at least 602,725,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,477,000 deaths.