Nasdaq Surges Over 1%; US Inflation Falls In April

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining over 100 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 33,630.27 while the NASDAQ rose 1.18% to 12,323.33. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.65% to 4,145.83.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer discretionary shares rose by 1.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included GrowGeneration Corp. GRWG, up 30%, and RumbleON, Inc. RMBL, up 21%.
• In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

The annual inflation rate in the US fell to 4.9% in April, recording the lowest level since April 2021, and compared to 5% in March.

Equities Trading UP

• CTI BioPharma Corp. CTIC shares shot up 85% to $8.91 after Sobi announced it will acquire the company in a transaction worth $1.7 billion.
• Shares of LivePerson, Inc. LPSN got a boost, shooting 34% to $5.83 after the company reported better-than-expected sales results.
• Compass, Inc. COMP shares were also up, gaining 34% to $3.74 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 financial results and issued guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Babylon Holdings Limited BBLN shares dropped 64% to $2.55 after the company reported mixed Q1 financial results. The company also announced it secured financing and plans to implement a take private transaction with support from AlbaCore Capital.
• Shares of Shengfeng Development Limited SFWL were down 35% to $5.75 amid profit taking after the stock rallied yesterday.
• Cuentas Inc. CUEN was down, falling 26% to $5.12 after climbing around 27% on Tuesday.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.3% to $72.69 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,043.50.

Silver traded down 0.2% to $25.85 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.3% to $3.8510.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.2% The German DAX fell 0.4%, French CAC 40 dipped 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.5%.

France recorded a current account surplus of EUR 1.4 billion in March versus a revised EUR 1.5 billion gap in the prior month. France's trade deficit also shrank to EUR 8 billion in March. The Halifax house price index rose 0.1% year-over-year in April following a 1.6% increase in the prior month.

Economics

The annual inflation rate in the US fell to 4.9% in April, recording the lowest level since April 2021, and compared to 5% in March.