U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.5% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.08% to 40,867.75 while the NASDAQ rose 0.49% to 17,903.01. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.37% to 5,618.02.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed by 1.2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, financials shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) reported strong second-quarter performance and raised its fiscal 2025 profit outlook.

TJX reported second-quarter earnings per share of 96 cents (+13%), beating the analyst consensus of 91 cents. Quarterly sales of $13.468 billion (+6%) outpaced the street view of $13.307 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.2% to $71.60 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,547.20.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $29.51 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.7% to $4.1890.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.33%, Germany's DAX rose 0.50% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.52%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.24%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.12%.

The annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to 2.6% in July from 2.5% in the prior month, while current account surplus rose to €52.4 billion in June from €32.4 billion a year ago. Italy’s current account surplus widened to EUR 4,885 billion in June from EUR 1,248 billion in the year-ago period. Producer prices in Germany fell by 0.8% year-over-year in July.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.29%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.69%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.35% and India's BSE Sensex rising 0.13%.

The annual inflation rate in Hong Kong increased to 2.5% in July from 1.5% in the prior month. The People’s Bank of China kept key lending rates unchanged at the recent fixing.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the U.S. declined by 10.1% from the prior week in the week ending Aug. 16.
• Crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 4.649 million barrels in the week ending Aug. 16, compared to market expectations for a decline of 2.72 million barrels.

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