Crude Oil Rises 1.5%; Generac Holdings Shares Plummet

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones falling around 50 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.16% to 30,476.21 while the NASDAQ fell 0.63% to 10,704.60. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.55% to 3,699.70.

Also check this: Dow Rises Over 300 Points As Market Volatility Decreases

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 2.3% on Wednesday. Leading the sector was strength from KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. KLXE and GeoPark Limited GPRK.

In trading on Wednesday, heath care shares dipped 1%.

Top Headline

Housing starts in the US dipped 8.1% to an annualized rate of 1.439 million in September compared to a revised 1.566 million in the prior month. Building permits rose 1.4% month-over-month to an annualized 1.564 million during the month.

Equities Trading UP

• RedHill Biopharma Ltd. RDHL shares shot up 61% to $0.7480 after the company announced its oral broad-acting antiviral, Opaganib, was granted a new COVID-19 treatment patent.
• Shares of HV Bancorp, Inc. HVBC got a boost, shooting 29% to $25.90. Citizens Financial Services and HV Bancorp signed definitive merger agreement for $67.4 million.
• Kintara Therapeutics, Inc. KTRA shares were also up, gaining 33% to $0.1330. The company announced it paused its REM-001 program to conserve funds to support its VAL-083 international registrational study.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Olaplex Holdings, Inc. OLPX shares tumbled 50% to $4.8750 after the company issued Q3 and FY22 sales guidance below analyst estimates.
• Shares of Generac Holdings Inc. GNRC were down 20% to $117.47 after the company reported preliminary Q3 EPS results are lower year over year. The company also lowered its FY22 net sales growth guidance and net income margin.
• Sientra, Inc. SIEN was down, falling 34% to $0.4017 after the company announced a proposed public offering.

Also check out: Carnival, Amazon, Iamgold And Other Big Gainers From Tuesday

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $84.03, while gold traded down 0.9% at $1,640.60.

Silver traded down 0.8% to $18.45 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.2% to $3.3555.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.33%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.09% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.28%. The German DAX gained 0.01%, French CAC 40 rose 0.05% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.12%.

The Eurozone annual inflation rate fell to 9.9% in September versus a preliminary reading of 10.0%, while construction output in the region climbed 2.3% year-over-year in August.

The annual inflation rate in the UK accelerated to 10.1% in September from 9.9% in the previous month, while producer inflation climbed 15.9% year-over-year in September slowing from a revised 16.4% increase a month ago.

Economics

• Housing starts in the US dipped 8.1% to an annualized rate of 1.439 million in September compared to a revised 1.566 million in the prior month. Building permits rose 1.4% month-over-month to an annualized 1.564 million during the month.
• US crude-oil inventories declined 1.7 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
• Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.
• Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Check out this: Why Fear Level Among US Investors Is Decreasing

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 98,907,740 cases with around 1,091,080 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,634,370 cases and 528,920 deaths, while France reported over 36,355,690 COVID-19 cases with 156,080 deaths. In total, there were at least 630,977,790 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,574,490 deaths.