Benzinga - by Lisa Levin, Benzinga Editor.
U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones falling more than 200 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded down 0.69% to 33,386.73 while the NASDAQ fell 0.50% to 12,997.99. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.58% to 4,248.92.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares rose by 1.9% on Wednesday.
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 2.1%.
Top Headline
Crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 2.17 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 22, versus a 2.13 million decline in the prior period.
Equities Trading UP
ShiftPixy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY) shares shot up 95% to $0.8479. The company announced the effective date for its reverse stock split after the close. Shareholders voted to approve a reverse split on Aug. 21. After the closing bell on Tuesday, ShiftPixy said the one-for-twenty-four reverse split will take effect on Sept. 30.
Shares of SciSparc Ltd. (NASDAQ: SPRC) got a boost, shooting 37% to $0.2145. The company reported its previously announced 1-for-26 reverse share split is expected to be implemented after market close today.
MillerKnoll, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLKN) shares were also up, gaining 28% to $24.43 after the company announced better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued FY24 EPS guidance above estimates.
Equities Trading DOWN
mCloud Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: MCLD) shares dropped 48% to $0.1494 after the company said it would not meet the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC.
Shares of Sharps Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: STSS) were down 35% to $0.5301 after the company reported a $5.6 million registered direct and private placement priced at the market under Nasdaq rules.
Know Labs, Inc. (NYSE: KNW) was down, falling 29% to $0.2499 after the company announced pricing of a $7 million public offering of common stock.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 3.8% to $93.79 while gold traded down 1.5% at $1,891.20.
Silver traded down 2.3% to $22.675 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.5% to $3.6295.
Euro zone
European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.18% London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.43% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.37% The German DAX fell 0.25% French CAC 40 fell 0.03%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.31%.
Bank lending to households in the Eurozone increased by 1% year-over-year for the month of August. The consumer confidence in France declined to 83 in September from 85 in August, while Germany’s GfK Consumer Climate Indicator fell to -26.5 heading into October compared to a revised reading of -25.6 in September.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.18%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.83% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.16%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.3%.
The index of leading economic indicators in Japan was revised higher to 108.2 in July versus a preliminary reading of 107.6, while index of coincident economic indicators was revised lower to 114.2 in July compared to a flash reading of 114.5. Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms dipped by 11.7% year-over-year to CNY 4,655.82 billion during the first eight months of the year.
Economics
Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell 1.3% in the week ending Sept. 22, 2023, versus a 5.4% increase in the prior week.
U.S. durable goods orders increased 0.2% month-over-month in August versus a revised 5.6% decline in July, and beating market expectations for a 0.5% fall.
Crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 2.17 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 22, versus a 2.13 million decline in the prior period.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 108,622,500 cases with around 1,176,310 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,998,600 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 695,817,420 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,920,330 deaths.
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