The Dow was up 0.42 percent at 34,437.23 at midday Wednesday, while the NASDAQ was down 0.14 percent at 14,508.18. The S&P 500 increased 0.06 percent to 4,294.30.
The United States has the largest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, with 33,653,100 infections and 604,470 deaths reported. In India, there were at least 30,362,840 cases confirmed, with 398,450 deaths, whereas in Brazil, there were over 18,513,300 COVID-19 cases verified, with 515,980 deaths. According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, there were at least 181,856,800 instances of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 3,939,030 deaths.
Sectors that are leading and those that are lagging
On Wednesday, energy stocks gained 0.9 percent. Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNR), up 24 percent, and Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE: ASPN), up 27 percent, were among the sector’s top gainers.
Communication services shares declined 0.4 percent in Wednesday’s session.
Headline 1:
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) reported fourth-quarter results that were better than expected.
General Mills reported $0.91 per share in adjusted quarterly earnings, topping analysts’ expectations of $0.84 per share. The company’s quarterly sales were $4.50 billion, compared to $4.36 billion expected by analysts.
General Mills forecasts a 1% to 3% drop in organic net sales in FY22.
Equities are rising in value.
The stock of Cuentas Inc. (NASDAQ: CUEN) soared 188 percent to $8.00. Following a news release titled “WaveMax to Implement the World’s First Shared Wifi6 Network,” the stock soared. Cuentas has agreed to test SharedFi in 170 locations around the New York City-Tristate area.
Aerovate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: AVTE) stock soared 82 percent to $25.51 after the company priced its first public offering at $14 a share.
Dingdong (Cayman) Limited (NYSE: DDL) saw a 77 percent increase in its stock price to $42.00. Dingdong (Cayman) Limited priced its 4 million American depositary shares (ADS) for $23.5 per ADS in its initial public offering. The entire size of the offering is $95.7 million.
Take a look at today’s big movers.
Trading in equities is down.
After the firm posted worse-than-expected Q4 results, Barnes & Noble Education Inc (NYSE: BNED) shares fell 18% to $7.16.
After the business priced an 18 million share common stock offering at $1 per share, shares of electroCore, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECOR) fell 26% to $1.11.
After the company provided an update on the Phase 1 AdCOVID clinical trial evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of the intranasally administered vaccine candidate, showing lower than expected immune responses for each of the immune parameters tested, Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT) was down 36 percent to $10.16. Altimmune plans to devote its efforts in the future on the development of ALT-801 and HepTcell, two innovative peptide-based treatments for obesity and liver illnesses, according to the company.
Commodities
Oil rose 0.3 percent to $73.19 in commodity news, while gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,765.00.
Silver jumped 0.8 percent to $26.10 on Wednesday, while copper gained 0.4 percent to $4.2820.
The Eurozone
Today’s European stock market was lower. The STOXX 600 index in the eurozone sank 0.75 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index plummeted 1.05 percent, and the German DAX 30 fell 1%. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 in London sank 0.68 percent, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.91 percent, and the FTSE MIB in Italy fell 1.07 percent.
The Eurozone’s annual inflation rate fell to 1.9 percent in June, down from a two-and-a-half-year high of 2% the previous month. In May, industrial producer prices in France grew by 0.5 percent, while the annual inflation rate surged to 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent in May. The unemployment rate in Germany fell to 3.7 percent in May, down from 3.8 percent the previous month.
In the first quarter, the UK’s gross domestic product fell by 6.1 percent year on year. The UK’s business investment fell 10.7% quarter on quarter in the first three months of the year, but the current account deficit reduced to GBP 12.8 billion.
Economics
According to the ADP, private employers hired 692,000 people in June, down from a revised 886,000 in May.
The MNI Chicago Business Barometer fell from 75.2 in May to 66.1 in June.
In May, pending home sales in the United States increased 13.1% year over year, following a record 51.7 percent spike in April.
The Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil stocks declined by 6.718 million barrels in the week ending June 25th.
President Thomas Barkin of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond will talk at 1:00 p.m. ET.
At 3:00 p.m. ET, data on farm prices for May will be revealed.
The complete economic calendar can be seen here (C) 2021. Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not offer financial advice. All intellectual property rights are reserved./n
