Dow Gains 75 Points; Crude Oil Rises 2%

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 75 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.22% to 33,779.13 while the NASDAQ rose 0.87% to 10,835.84. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.49% to 3,938.40.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares gained by 2.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included WeWork Inc. WE, up 17%, and Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. AHT, up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Stocks of crude oil in the US climbed by 18.962 million barrels in the week ended January 6, the EIA said.

Equities Trading UP

• Broadwind Inc BWEN shares shot up 80% to $4.07 after the company announced the receipt of approximately $175 million in new tower orders from a leading global wind turbine manufacturer.
• Shares of Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc LIPO got a boost, shooting 64% to $5.06 after the company announced top line results of its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of its drug candidate LP-10 for Hemorrhagic Cystitis.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY shares were also up, gaining 50% to $3.12 after adding more than 27% during regular market hours on Tuesday. According to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Bed Bath & Beyond has brought on consulting firm AlixPartners as its new restructuring advisor. The company reported a quarterly adjusted net loss of $3.65 per share, which missed estimates for a loss of $2.11 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

• CommVault Systems, Inc. CVLT shares tumbled 14% to $55.94 after the company issued Q3 guidance below estimates. Piper Sandler cut its price target on the stock from $70 to $60.
• Shares of American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. AVCT were down 36% to $0.9023 after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Lightning eMotors, Inc. ZEV was down, falling 13% to $0.4641 after the company issued Q4 revenue guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $76.70 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,872.70.

Silver traded down 1.2% to $23.385 on Wednesday while copper rose 2.3% to $4.17.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.42%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.45% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.17%. The German DAX climbed 1.08%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.78% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.56%.

Retail sales in Italy increased by 0.8% from a month ago in November versus a revised 0.3% decline in the prior month. Industrial production in Spain fell by 1.1% year-over-year in November.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.49%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.24%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.03%.

The index of coincident economic indicators in Japan dropped to 99.1 in November from 99.6 in October, while index of leading economic indicators fell to 97.6 in November from a final reading of 98.6 in October. Retail sales in Australia rose by 1.4% month-over-month to AUD 35.92 billion during November, while monthly Consumer Price Index indicator rose by 7.3% in the year to November.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the US rose 1.2% in the first week of January.
• Stocks of crude oil in the US climbed by 18.962 million barrels in the week ended January 6, the EIA said.

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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 103,151,840 cases with around 1,121,720 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,681,520 cases and 530,720 deaths, while France reported over 39,421,140 COVID-19 cases with 163,100 deaths. In total, there were at least 669,583,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,718,320 deaths.