US Stocks Edge Higher As Fed Raises Interest Rates By 75 Basis Points

U.S. stocks traded slightly higher toward the end of trading session on Wednesday following the announcement of interest rate decision by the Fed.

The Dow traded up 0.06% to 30,725.62 while the NASDAQ rose 0.29% to 11,458.32. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.25% to 3,865.60.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares rose by 1.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included General Mills, Inc. GIS, up 7% and Rite Aid Corporation RAD up 5%.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 bps at the meeting

Equities Trading UP

• Stabilis Solutions, Inc. SLNG shares shot up 83% to $9.46 after the company announced it has received authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas to all free trade and non-free trade countries.
• Shares of ECMOHO Limited MOHO got a boost, shooting 29% to $0.1491. ECMOHO announced that it has received delisting notice from the Nasdaq. The company said it has elected to not appeal Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department's determination.
• Evaxion Biotech A/S EVAX shares were also up, gaining 47% to $2.99 as the company reached an important milestone announcing that it had enrolled its first patient in the global phase 2b clinical trial of EVX-01, its personalized cancer therapy.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Sesen Bio, Inc. SESN shares tumbled 36% to $0.43. Sesen Bio and privately held Carisma Therapeutics Inc have entered into a merger agreement to combine the companies in an all-stock transaction.
• Shares of ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY were down 40% to $13.01 after the company announced pricing of a $5 million private placement.
• Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation ADMP was down, falling 37% to $0.2250 as the company announced the results from the third planned interim analysis of the Phase 2/3 clinical trial of Tempol in high-risk subjects with early COVID-19 infection. The trial did not achieve its primary endpoint, as measured by comparing the rate of sustained clinical resolution of symptoms of COVID-19 at day 14 of Tempol versus placebo.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4% to $83.28, while gold traded up 0.3% at $1,675.20.

Silver traded up 1.4% to $19.455 on Wednesday while copper fell 1% to $3.4670.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.90%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.63% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.01%. The German DAX gained 0.76%, French CAC 40 rose 0.87% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.20%.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, in the UK came in at £11.8 billion for August.

Economics

• Existing home sales in the US fell 0.4% to an annual rate of 4.8 million in August, recording the lowest reading since May 2020, and compared to a revised 5.7% decline in the previous month.
• US crude oil inventories climbed by 1.142 million barrels in the week ended September 16th, versus market estimates of a 2.161-million-barrel rise, the Energy Information Administration said.
• The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 bps at the meeting.

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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 97,594,680 cases with around 1,079,200 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,547,590 cases and 528,400 deaths, while France reported over 34,973,410 COVID-19 cases with 154,790 deaths. In total, there were at least 618,209,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,533,620 deaths.