S&P 500 Gains 1%; US Crude Oil Inventories Increase More Than Projected

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the S&P 500 gaining 1% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.84% to 34,550.13 while the NASDAQ rose 1.32% to 13,941.87. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 1.04% to 4,485.35.

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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

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 5.946 million barrels in the week to July 7, higher than market expectations for a 0.483 million barrel gain, the EIA reported.

Equities Trading UP

• Healthcare Triangle, Inc. HCTI shares shot up 102% to $6.59 as the company launched initiative to prevent ransomware attacks in the $35 billion healthcare data market.
• Shares of Ault Alliance, Inc. AULT got a boost, shooting 60% to $5.28 after the company said it anticipates $200 million in annual revenue for 2023.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RXRX shares were also up, gaining 52% to $10.28 after the company announced collaboration and a $50 million investment from NVIDIA.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Theratechnologies Inc. THTX shares dropped 19% to $0.7899 after reporting weak quarterly sales.
• Shares of PainReform Ltd. PRFX were down 45% to $9.06 after the company reported pricing of $2.7 million concurrent registered direct offering and private placement.
• T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO was down, falling 20% to $0.1198 after the company announced preliminary results for the second quarter of 2023.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $75.93 while gold traded up 1.3% at $1,963.10.

Silver traded up 3.9% to $24.185 on Wednesday while copper rose 2.1% to $3.8445.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.56%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.81% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1.28% The German DAX gained 1.56% French CAC 40 climbed 1.73% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.65%.

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%.
• U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 5.946 million barrels in the week to July 7, higher than market expectations for a 0.483 million barrel gain, the EIA reported.

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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.