US Stocks Higher Ahead Of Fed Decision

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining over 80 points on Wednesday

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 34,191.95 while the NASDAQ rose 0.13% to 11,271.20. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.21% to 4,027.98.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sunnova Energy International Inc. NOVA, up 4%, and Cadiz Inc. CDZI, up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

US import prices fell 0.6% from a month ago in November versus a revised 0.4% drop in the prior month. Export prices declined by 0.3% from a month earlier.

Equities Trading UP

• Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNA) shares shot up 38% to $15.13 after the company announced AOC 1001 data from the preliminary assessment of the Phase 1/2 MARINA trial demonstrating the first-ever successful targeted delivery of RNA into muscle.
• Shares of BIMI International Medical, Inc. BIMI got a boost, shooting 32% to $2.74. BIMI reported entry into a material definitive agreement for the acquisition of Wuzhou Qiangsheng Hospital Co., Ltd., Suzhou Eurasia Hospital Co., Ltd. and Yunan Yuxi Minkang Hospital Co., Ltd.
• Kymera Therapeutics, Inc. KYMR shares were also up, gaining 22% to $31.59 after the company announced results from the Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating KT-474 in patients with HS and AD and Sanofi's decision to advance KT-474 into Phase 2 clinical trials.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Netcapital Inc. (NASDAQ: NCPL) shares tumbled 27% to $1.6150 after the company announced pricing of a public offering.
• Shares of Yumanity Therapeutics, Inc. YMTX were down 16% to $1.7150. Yumanity Therapeutics recently declared a special dividend in connection with the proposed asset sale to Janssen and merger with Kineta.
• Charter Communications, Inc. CHTR was down, falling 14% to $338.92 after it communicated an increase in 2023 capital expenditures at its analyst day held on Tuesday.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $76.92 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,823.10.

Silver traded up 0.4% to $24.09 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.4% to $3.8565.

Stocks of crude oil in the US increased by 7.819 million barrels in the week ended December 9, versus a 6.426 million-barrels decline in the prior week, the American Petroleum Institute said.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.2%. The German DAX dropped 0.5%, French CAC 40 fell 0.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.1%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 2.0% from a month ago in September, following a revised 0.8% increase in September. Spain's consumer price inflation declined to 6.8% year-over-year in November, compared to July's 38-year high level of 10.8%. The annual inflation rate in the UK fell to 10.7% in November from 11.1% a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with the Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.72% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.39%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.01%.

The annual wholesale price inflation rate in India eased to 5.85% in November from 8.39% in the previous month. Industrial production in Japan dropped by 3.2% month-over-month in October following a final 1.7% decline a month ago. Japan's core machinery orders rose 5.4% month-over-month in October

Economics

US import prices fell 0.6% from a month ago in November versus a revised 0.4% drop in the prior month. Export prices declined by 0.3% from a month earlier.

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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 101,419,850 cases with around 1,110,560 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,676,360 cases and 530,650 deaths, while France reported over 38,612,750 COVID-19 cases with 169,000 deaths. In total, there were at least 655,097,450 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,662,410 deaths.