Benzinga - by Lisa Levin, Benzinga Editor.
U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.5% on Wednesday.
Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.26% to 33,053.68 while the NASDAQ fell 1.50% to 12,942.66. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.97% to 4,206.67.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares rose by 0.2% on Wednesday.
In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell by 4.9%.
Top Headline
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal first quarter on Tuesday.
Microsoft’s fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $56.5 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $51.4 billion. The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.99 per share, versus expectations of $2.50 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Abri SPAC I, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASPA) shares shot up 136% to $29.54. Abri's stockholders approved its proposed business combination with DLQ.
Shares of ReShape Lifesciences Inc. (NASDAQ: RSLS) got a boost, shooting 36% to $0.28 after gaining over 6% on Tuesday. ReShape Lifesciences recently announced pricing of $3.0 million public offering.
BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BTAI) shares were also up, gaining 36% to $3.1785 after announcing positive findings from an independent third party audit of the data integrity at TRANQUILITY II Phase 3 trial site.
Equities Trading DOWN
Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONN) shares dropped 35% to $1.18 as the company reported pricing of $4.55 million underwritten public offering.
Shares of Appreciate Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFR) were down 34% to $0.0981. Appreciate Holdings received a notice from Nasdaq regarding delisting.
Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ: VICR) was down, falling 27% to $38.79 after reporting results for the third quarter.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $84.00 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,985.00.
Silver traded down 0.8% to $22.935 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.4% to $3.6080.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1% The German DAX rose 0.2% French CAC 40 rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.5%.
The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany increased by 1.1 points from the earlier month to a reading of 86.9 in October. Bank lending to households in the Eurozone increased by 0.8% year-over-year in September, down from market estimates of 1%. Producer prices in Spain declined by 8.6% year-over-year in September versus a revised 9.9% drop in the previous month.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.55% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.40%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell around 0.8%.
The index of leading economic indicators in Japan fell to 109.2 in August versus a flash reading of 109.5, while the index of coincident economic indicators rose to 114.6 in August versus a preliminary reading of 114.3. Australian inflation rate declined to 5.4% year-over-year in the third quarter compared to 6.0% in the earlier period.
Economics
Mortgage applications in the U.S. declined by 1% in the week ending Oct. 20.
Building permits in the U.S. fell by 4.5% to an annual rate of 1.471 million in September.
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