U.S. stocks traded slightly higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 50 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded up 0.04% to 32,921.87 while the NASDAQ rose 0.42% to 12,432.99. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.15% to 4,134.85.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Real estate shares rose by 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT), up 4% and Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) up 3%.
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 0.2%.
Top Headline
US crude oil inventories dropped by 3.282 million barrels in the week ended August 19, compared to analysts’ expectations of a 0.933-million-barrel drop. Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.027 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 0.661 million barrels last week, the EIA said..
Equities Trading UP
Bright Minds Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:DRUG) shares shot up 41% to $1.8814 as the stock continues to see volatility despite the company last week announcing it is not aware of any developments that would explain the recent surge. Bright Minds priced overnight marketed offering of 2.858 million units at $1.40 per unit.
Shares of SciSparc Ltd. (NASDAQ:SPRC) got a boost, shooting 23% to $1.1398 after the company announced additional pre-clinical results of its Psychedelic-based Pharma Collaboration for treatment for cocaine addiction using MEAI.
SuperCom Ltd. (NASDAQ:SPCB) shares were also up, gaining 58% to $0.4101 after the company announced it was awarded a $33 million national electronic monitoring contract of an EU member country.
Equities Trading DOWN
ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCSC) shares tumbled 16% to $28.61 after the company posted downbeat Q4 earnings
Shares of Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) were down 19% to $18.83. Nordstrom reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter, but lowered its FY22 outlook.
Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRN) was down, falling 18% to $25.05 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results.
Also check out: Macy's, Palo Alto Networks And Other Big Gainers From Tuesday
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $94.31, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,763.00.
Silver traded down 0.4% to $18.935 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.5% to $3.6420.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.16%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.22% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.33%. The German DAX gained 0.20%, French CAC 40 rose 0.39% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.23%.
Economics
U.S. durable goods orders came in unchanged from a month ago in July, versus analysts’ estimates of a 0.6% increase and compared to a revised 2.2% growth in the previous month.
Pending home sales fell 1% month-over-month in July versus a revised 8.9% decline in June.
US crude oil inventories dropped by 3.282 million barrels in the week ended August 19, compared to analysts’ expectations of a 0.933-million-barrel drop. Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.027 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 0.661 million barrels last week, the EIA said..
Check out this: Investor Optimism Decreases Further As Dow Tumbles 150 Points
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 95,537,990 cases with around 1,066,410 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,368,190 cases and 527,450 deaths, while France reported over 34,387,610 COVID-19 cases with 153,700 deaths. In total, there were at least 602,725,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,477,000 deaths.
