Dow Jumps Over 200 Points; UniFirst Posts Downbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining over 200 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.58% to 39,511.62 while the NASDAQ rose 0.60% to 16,412.89. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.58% to 5,233.65.

Check This Out: Top 3 Energy Stocks That May Keep You Up At Night In Q1

 

Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Real estate shares jumped by 1.1% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares rose by just 0.3%.

 

Top Headline

 

UniFirst Corporation UNF reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

UniFirst posted quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share, missing market estimates of $1.23 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $590.70 million versus expectations of $587.84 million.

UniFirst said it sees FY24 revenue of $2.415 billion to $2.425 billion and earnings of $6.80 to $7.16 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. LIXT shares shot up 82% to $4.1307 after the company announced the publication of pre-clinical data on its lead clinical compound, LB-100.

Shares of MariaDB plc MRDB got a boost, surging 64% to $0.3675 after Progress Software announced that it is possibly considering an offer for the company.

Destiny Tech100 Inc DXYZ shares were also up, gaining 30% to $11.68 after gaining 9% on Tuesday.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Gamida Cell Ltd. GMDA shares dropped 82% to $0.0620 after the company reported fourth-quarter results and disclosed the commencement of a restructuring process.

Shares of Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. DRCT were down 48% to $13.76 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Velo3D, Inc. VLD was down, falling 38% to $0.3586 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Also Check This Out: Netflix To Rally Over 15%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Wednesday

 

Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $81.17 while gold traded up 0.8% at $2,194.00.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $24.705 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.2% to $3.9995.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5% The German DAX rose 0.4% French CAC 40 rose 0.2% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%.

The economic sentiment indicator in the eurozone climbed to a three-month high level of 96.3 in March, while services confidence indicator rose to 6.3 from 6 a month ago. The consumer confidence indicator in the eurozone increased by 0.6 points to a reading of -14.9 in March.

Spain posted a current account surplus of €5,127 million in January, higher than the €2,340 million surplus recorded in year-ago period, while consumer price inflation rate accelerated to 3.2% year-over-year in March. The construction output in Italy surged by 14.8% year-over-year in January, while consumer confidence indicator in France climbed to 91 in March.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.90%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.36%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipping 1.26% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.73%.

Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms jumped by 10.2% year-over-year to CNY 914.06 billion during the first two months of the year.

 

Economics

 

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 0.7% on the week ending March 22, 2024.

Now Read This: Accenture, AutoZone And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsPenny StocksEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsTrading IdeasMid Morning Market Update
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!