Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.61% to 33,881.54 while the NASDAQ fell 0.24% to 13,962.31. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 4,143.85.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 31,346,920 cases with around 563,440 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 13,873,820 cases and 172,080 deaths, while Brazil reported over 13,599,990 COVID-19 cases with 358,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 137,515,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,961,460 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares rose 4.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included DMC Global Inc. (NASDAQ: BOOM), up 10%, and Earthstone Energy, Inc. (NYSE: ESTE), up 9%.
In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.5%.
Top Headline
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.
JPMorgan reported quarterly earnings of $4.50 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.10 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $33.1 billion, versus expectations of $30.52 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCB) shares shot up 43% to $106.98.
Shares of Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NRIX) got a boost, shooting 21% to $32.05 after Berenberg initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating.
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (NYSE: TV) shares were also up, gaining 18% to $11.98 after the company reached an agreement with Univision to sell its content and media assets in a deal valued at $4.8 billion. Televisa will receive $3 billion in cash and $1.5 billion in Univision equity.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
LifeMD, Inc. (NASDAQ: LFMD) shares tumbled 22% to $9.20 following recent tweets from short seller, Culper Research, including ‘We’re short LifeMD, Inc. $LFMD…’
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) were down 10% to $25.30 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results. The company also reaffirmed its FY21 sales guidance below analyst estimates.
Intrusion Inc. (NASDAQ: INTZ) was down, falling 13% to $24.51 following earlier short report from White Diamond Research ‘Why A Cybersecurity Expert Calls Intrusion And Its New Shield Product “Garbage” As Insiders Liquidate Holdings.’
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 4.5% to $62.91, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,736.80.
Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $25.46 while copper rose 2.4% to $4.1280.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.19%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.74% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.17%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.4% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.71% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.1%.
Industrial production in the Eurozone fell 1.0% in February, versus a 0.8% rise in January. Labor productivity in the UK dropped 4.3% on quarter during October-December 2020, versus a preliminary estimate of a 4.5% decline.
Economics
Import prices in the US rose 1.2% in March following a 1.3% increase in February. Prices for US exports climbed 2.1% in March after rising 1.6% a month ago.
The Federal Open Market Committee will release its recent Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 3:45 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 a.m. ET.
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