Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; US Inflation Rate Rises To 7% In December

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.56% to 36,453.49 while the NASDAQ rose 0.79% to 15,273.08. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.60% to 4,741.45.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 63,390,870 cases with around 863,890 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 36,070,510 cases and 484,650 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,630,140 COVID-19 cases with 620,280 deaths. In total, there were at least 314,292,710 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,522,840 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Information technology shares rose 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ebix, Inc. EBIX, up 11% and inTEST Corporation INTT up 9%.

 

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares dipped by 0.4%.

Top Headline

The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7% in December, notching a fresh high since June 1982, and up from 6.8% in the previous month. Analysts, however, were expecting a 7% inflation rate. The CPI rose 0.50% month-over-month during December.

 

Equities Trading UP

Fathom Digital Manufacturing Corporation FATH shares shot up 38% to $7.32.

Shares of Fresh Vine Wine, Inc. VINE got a boost, shooting 40% to $8.14 after the company reported a partnership with CRAVE American Kitchen & Sushi Bar.

Immuron Limited IMRN shares were also up, gaining 46% to $3.7279. Immuron received funding of A$6.2 ($4.45) million from the U.S Department of Defense to examine a dosing regimen for Travelan more suited for use by the military.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Koninklijke Philips N.V. PHG shares tumbled 15% to $32.98 after the company hiked the cost of its recall of ventilators and warned earnings would take a big hit from global supply chain shortages.

Shares of Prothena Corporation plc PRTA were down 13% to $36.57.

ATA Creativity Global AACG was down, falling 10% to $2.05.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $82.28, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,823.50.

Silver traded up 0.9% Wednesday to $23.02 while copper rose 2.9% to $4.5575.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1%. The German DAX gained 0.4%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%.

Wholesale price inflation in Germany slowed to 16.1% in December from a record level of 16.6% in the previous month.

Economics

The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7% in December, notching a fresh high since June 1982, and up from 6.8% in the previous month. Analysts, however, were expecting a 7% inflation rate. The CPI rose 0.50% month-over-month during December.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury statement for December is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here