Crude Oil Dips 2%; Signet Jewelers Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mostly flat midway through trading, ahead of interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow traded up 0.03% to 39,123.89 while the NASDAQ fell 0.01% to 16,165.15. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.01% to 5,178.79.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares rose by 0.5% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 1.952 million barrels in the week ended March 15, versus market estimates of a 0.013 million gain.

Equities Trading UP

ETAO International Co., Ltd. ETAO shares shot up 80% to $0.2581. The company announced a reverse stock split.

Shares of XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. XTLB got a boost, surging 113% to $2.19 after the company announced plans to acquire The Social Proxy.

TruGolf Holdings, Inc. TRUG shares were also up, gaining 53% to $1.76 after the company announced a newly expanded AI technology licensing agreement with mlSpatial.

Equities Trading DOWN

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. LFCR shares dropped 31% to $4.9481 after the company announced it concluded its strategic evaluation process, announced management succession and board changes.

Shares of Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. AQST were down 15% to $4.52. Aquestive Therapeutics priced its $75 million underwritten public offering of 16,666,667 common shares at $4.50 per share.

Signet Jewelers Limited SIG was down, falling 11% to $91.07 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and issued weak FY25 guidance.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.2% to $81.67 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,159.00.

Silver traded down 0.2% to $25.09 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.7% to $4.0475.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.05%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.02% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.28% The German DAX rose 0.02% French CAC 40 fell 0.59% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.06%.

Industrial production in Italy declined by 1.2% month-over-month in January compared to a revised 1.2% surge in December. Producer prices in Germany fell by 4.1% year-over-year in February.

UK’s producer prices increased by 0.4% year-over-year in February, while inflation rate eased to 3.4% year-over-year in February.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.08%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.55% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.1%.

The People's Bank of China held benchmark lending rates at the recent fixing.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 1.6% on the week ending March 15.

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 1.952 million barrels in the week ended March 15, versus market estimates of a 0.013 million gain.

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