U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite surging over 1% on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.78% to 34,527.32 while the NASDAQ rose 1.18% to 13,922.99. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.88% to 4,478.36.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Communication services shares climbed by 1.3% on Wednesday.
• In trading on Wednesday, health care shares rose by just 0.03%.

Top Headline

The annual inflation rate in the U.S. eased to 3% in June, recording the lowest level since March 2021, versus May’s level of 4% and market expectations of 3.1%.

Equities Trading UP

• Healthcare Triangle, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCTI) shares shot up 203% to $9.87 as the company launched initiative to prevent ransomware attacks in the $35 billion healthcare data market.
• Shares of Ault Alliance, Inc. (NYSE:AULT) got a boost, shooting 56% to $5.14 after the company said it anticipates $200 million in annual revenue for 2023.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX) shares were also up, gaining 74% to $11.80 after the company announced collaboration and a $50 million investment from NVIDIA.

Equities Trading DOWN

• CBL International Limited (NASDAQ:BANL) shares dropped 47% to $2.66 after jumping over 12% on Tuesday.
• Shares of PainReform Ltd. (NASDAQ:PRFX) were down 42% to $9.53 after the company reported pricing of $2.7 million concurrent registered direct offering and private placement.
• Katapult Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KPLT) was down, falling 28% to $0.7099. Katapult’s board approved a 1-for-25 reverse stock split of common stock.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $75.91 while gold traded up 1.2% at $ 1,959.80.

Silver traded up 3.7% to $24.15 on Wednesday while copper rose 1.6% to $3.8275.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1% The German DAX gained 1.3% French CAC 40 climbed 1.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.4%.

Spain's annual consumer price inflation eased to 1.9% in June from 3.2% in May.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.81%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.08%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.78%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.34%.

Producer prices in Japan increased by 4.1% year-over-year in June, slowing to their lowest level since April 2021. Japan's core machinery orders fell 7.6% month-over-month in May.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose 0.9% in the week ended July 7, 2023.
• The annual inflation rate in the U.S. eased to 3% in June, recording the lowest level since March 2021, versus May’s level of 4% and market expectations of 3.1%.

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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 107,361,310 cases with around 1,168,530 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,994,610 cases and 531,910 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 691,421,710 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,898,950 deaths.