Crude Oil Moves Lower; B. Riley Financial Shares Jump

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 edging lower on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.18% to 38,434.99 while the NASDAQ fell 0.09% to 15,682.38. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.14% to 5,063.45.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed by 0.8% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, industrials shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

AT&T Inc. T reported fiscal first-quarter 2024 operating revenues of $30.03 billion, down 0.4% year over year and missing the consensus of $30.54 billion. Adjusted EPS of 55 cents beat the consensus of 54 cents.

AT&T reiterated Wireless service revenue growth in the 3% range, Broadband revenue growth of 7%+, and adjusted EPS of $2.15 – $2.25 versus the $2.21 consensus.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• BranchOut Food Inc. BOF shares shot up 61% to $1.83 after the company announced it has expanded its existing relationship with the nation’s largest retailer, which brings the total annualized value of commitments from the retailer to over $8 million.
• Shares of Amesite Inc. AMST got a boost, surging 61% to $3.2050 after the company announced the Beta release of its NurseMagic app.
• B. Riley Financial, Inc. RILY shares were also up, gaining 44% to $31.25 after the company announced the results of an independent investigation showed the company and its executives had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Mr. Kahn or any of his affiliates.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Evotec SE EVO shares dropped 33% to $5.23. The company reported FY23 financial results. Evotec announced a priority reset to optimize its business to meet evolving market demand and focus on profitable growth in 2024 and beyond.
• Shares of Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. ATXI were down 31% to $0.0924 after the company announced a reverse stock split.
• iSun, Inc. ISUN was down, falling 41% to $0.09 after the company announced a reverse stock split.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $82.59 while gold traded down 0.3% at $2,336.10.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $27.265 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.4595.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.43%, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.06% while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.43% The German DAX fell 0.27% French CAC 40 fell 0.17% while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 0.27%.

The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany climbed to 89.4 in April, topping market estimates of 88.9.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 2.42%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 2.21%, China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.76% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.16%.

Australia’s inflation rate fell to 3.6% year-over-year in the first quarter from 4.1% in the previous period.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage applications declined by 2.7% from the prior week in the period ending April 19.
• New orders for manufactured durable goods rose by 2.6% month-over-month in March compared to a revised 0.7% gain in February.
• The EIA said crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 6.368 million barrels in the week ended April 19, versus market estimates of a 1.6 million gain.

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