U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones dropping over 250 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.73% to 32,813.21 while the NASDAQ fell 0.77% to 12,463.32. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.76% to 4,114.27.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares rose by 0.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRNT), up 5%, and StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS), up 4%.
• In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 1.7%.

Top Headline

Kohl's Corp (NYSE:KSS) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results and reaffirmed FY23 outlook.

Kohl's reported a first-quarter FY23 sales decline of 4% year-on-year to $3.57 billion, beating the consensus of $3.34 billion. Its comparable sales decreased 4.3% versus last year. EPS of $0.13 beat the consensus of $(0.42).

Equities Trading UP

• GigaCloud Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:GCT) shares shot up 38% to $7.93 after the company reported a year-over-year increase in first-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Enveric Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENVB) got a boost, shooting 95% to $6.15 after the company announced it received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for a patent application involving its EVM201 Series.
• Minerva Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTRS) shares were also up, gaining 145% to $0.4455 after the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the company a patent for certain medical systems and methods.

Equities Trading DOWN

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $74.38 while gold traded down 0.6% at $1,961.80.

Silver traded down 1.7% to $23.23 on Wednesday while copper fell 2.5% to $3.5650.

Stocks of crude oil in the US dropped by 6.799 million barrels in the week ended May 19, recording the biggest drop in six months, the API said Tuesday.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.81%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.75% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.12% The German DAX declined 1.92%, French CAC 40 fell 1.70% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2.39%.

The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany fell by 1.7 points from a month ago to 91.7 in May. The consumer price inflation in the UK eased to 8.7% year-over-year in April 2023, recording the lowest level since March 2022, while factory gate prices of goods produced by UK manufacturers fell to 5.4% year-over-year in April versus a revised 8.5% level in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 0.89%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.62% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropping 1.28%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.2%.

The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers in Japan rose to a reading of +6 in May compared to -3 in the prior month. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Economic Index in Australia came in flat versus the earlier month for April.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the U.S. dropped 4.6% in the week ended May 19 2023, versus a 5.7% decline in the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
• U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 12.456 million barrels in the week ending May 19, 2023, versus market estimates of a 0.775 million gain, 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 107,056,690 cases with around 1,164,560 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,987,330 cases and 531,840 deaths, while France reported over 40,061,440 COVID-19 cases with 167,200 deaths. In total, there were at least 689,124,030 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,881,400 deaths.