US Stocks Edge Higher; Dow Rises 50 Points

U.S. stocks traded slightly higher this morning, with the Dow Jones adding more than 50 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.17% to 31,199.56 while the NASDAQ rose 0.37% to 11,588.01. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.21% to 3,916.30.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped by 1.9% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Azure Power Global Limited AZRE, up 19% and Sunnova Energy International Inc. NOVA up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell by 2.2%.

Top Headline

The trade deficit narrowed by $10.2 billion to a nine-month low level of $70.7 billion in July. Exports from the US rose by 0.2% from the prior month to $259.3 billion, while imports fell 2.9% to $329.9 billion.

Equities Trading UP

• Quoin Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. QNRX shares shot up 50% to $4.9696 after Alliance Global Partners initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $20 price target.
• Shares of Sidus Space, Inc. SIDU got a boost, shooting 30% to $3.46 after the company announced that it has signed a launch agreement with SpaceX for five launches, beginning in early 2023.
• Azure Power Global Limited AZRE shares were also up, gaining 18% to $4.23. Azure Power Global recently announced the resignation of Harsh Shah as CEO.

Equities Trading DOWN

• First Wave BioPharma, Inc. FWBI shares tumbled 25% to $3.15 after jumping around 33% on Tuesday. First Wave BioPharma recently announced a 1:30 reverse stock split.
• Shares of Presidio Property Trust, Inc. SQFT were down 16% to $1.7379. Presidio Property Trust recently declared Q3 dividend and adopted variable dividend policy.
• UiPath Inc. PATH was down, falling 15% to $13.16 after the company issued Q3 and FY23 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.3% to $83.18, while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,714.00.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $18.065 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.1% to $3.4255.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.8%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%. The German DAX gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.3%.

The Eurozone economy grew 0.8% on quarter during the second quarter, versus a 0.6% growth in the second estimate, while number of employed persons increased by 0.4% on the quarter to 164.1 million in the quarter.

Retail sales in Italy climbed 1.3% from a month ago in July following a 1.1% drop a month ago. Industrial production in Germany declined 0.3% month-over-month during July, while Halifax house price index in the UK increased 11.5% year-over-year in August.

Economics

• The trade deficit narrowed by $10.2 billion to a nine-month low level of $70.7 billion in July. Exports from the US rose by 0.2% from the prior month to $259.3 billion, while imports fell 2.9% to $329.9 billion.
• Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 11:55 a.m. ET.
• Michael S. Barr, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve for Supervision, will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.
• The Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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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 96,716,570 cases with around 1,073,290 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,472,240 cases and 528,050 deaths, while France reported over 34,623,090 COVID-19 cases with 154,330 deaths. In total, there were at least 611,547,510 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,507,600 deaths.