Benzinga - U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 80 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded down 0.12% to 33,643.89 while the NASDAQ fell 0.67% to 11,951.16. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.33% to 4,095.41.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
- Energy shares rose by 0.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included 4,095.41 (NASDAQ: BANL), up 10%, and 4,095.41 (NYSE: BPT), up 4%.
- In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary fell by 1.4%.
Top Headline Apogee Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:APOG) posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.
The company reported fourth-quarter 2023 sales growth of 4.9% year-over-year to $344.1 million, missing the consensus of $348.2 million. Adjusted EPS declined to $0.86 from $0.91 in Q4FY22, above the consensus of $0.83.
Equities Trading UP
- TESSCO Technologies Incorporated (NASDAQ: TESS) shares shot up 87% to $8.78 as it agreed to be acquired by entities affiliated with Lee Equity Partners and Twin Point Capital for $9.00 in cash, resulting in an enterprise value of $161.4 million.
- Shares of HeartCore Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTCR) got a boost, shooting 57% to $1.40. HeartCore forged an agreement with rYojbaba Inc for its tenth Go IPO consulting service win.
- National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) shares were also up, gaining 120% to $0.4527. National CineMedia disclosed filing a voluntary Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Cutera, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUTR) shares dropped 26% to $20.06 after the company announced the immediate terminations of Executive Chairman Daniel Plants and CEO David Mowry for cause and withdrew 2023 outlook.
- Shares of Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGLE) were down 23% to $0.1985 after the company announced interim results the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of pegtarviliase for the treatment of Classical Homocystinuria and said it is exploring strategic alternatives.
- iMedia Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMBI) was down, falling 21% to $0.1985 following downbeat Q4 results.
Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $83.31 while gold traded up 0.6% at $2,031.10.
Silver traded up 1.8% to $25.64 on Wednesday while copper rose 1.3% to $4.0720.
Stocks of crude oil in the US rose by 0.377 million barrels in the week ended April 7, 2023, versus a 4.3 million barrel decline in the earlier week, the API said. US crude oil inventories increased by 0.597 million barrels in the latest week, versus market expectations for a 0.583 million decline, the EIA said.
Euro zone European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.13%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.50% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.44%. The German DAX rose 0.31%, French CAC 40 rose 0.09% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.38%.
Asia Pacific Markets Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.57%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.86% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.41%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.4%.
The value of loans in Japan rose 3% year-over-year in March following a 3.3% increase in February. Producer prices in Japan climbed by 7.2% year-over-year in March, while core machinery orders slipped 4.5% month-over-month in February.
Economics
- Mortgage applications in the US increased 5.3% in the week ended April 7, 2023, versus a 4.1% decline in the prior week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
- The headline CPI came in at 5% year-on-year in March, down from 6% in February, according to data the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The closely watched inflation reading was below average economist estimates of 5.2%. This marked the lowest inflation print since May 2021.
- US crude oil inventories increased by 0.597 million barrels in the latest week, versus market expectations for a 0.583 million decline, the EIA said.
COVID-19 Update The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,385,350 cases with around 1,157,190 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,776,000 cases and 531,010 deaths, while France reported over 39,853,250 COVID-19 cases with 165,850 deaths. In total, there were at least 685,156,170 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,838,920 deaths.
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