Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; US Inflation Rate Slows To 8.3%

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.36% to 32,277.82 while the NASDAQ fell 0.15% to 11,720.18. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.29% to 4,012.68.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 3.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Borr Drilling Limited BORR, up 11% and Battalion Oil Corporation BATL up 4%.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.8%.

Top Headline

Annual inflation rate in the US eased to 8.3% in April compared to a 41-year high level of 8.5% in the previous month. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 8.1%.

 

Equities Trading UP

Trecora Resources TREC shares shot up 26% to $9.55 as the company agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Balmoral Funds at $9.81 per share in cash or an enterprise value of $247 million.

Shares of Ferroglobe PLC GSM got a boost, shooting 19% to $7.57 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Purple Innovation, Inc. PRPL shares were also up, gaining 19% to $3.7250 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Kornit Digital Ltd. KRNT shares tumbled 38% to $34.86 after the company reported downbeat Q1 sales.

Shares of Redbox Entertainment Inc. RDBX were down 37% to $3.5300. Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment Inc CSSE agreed to acquire entertainment company Redbox Entertainment. The acquisition is expected tocreate an independent, integrated direct-to-consumer media platform delivering premium entertainment.

Unity Software Inc. U was down, falling 31% to $33.44 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results and issued sales guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.5% to $103.21, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,851.70.

Silver traded up 1.5% to $21.755 on Wednesday while copper rose 1.9% to $4.2330.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.2%. The German DAX climbed 0.8%, French CAC 40 jumped 1.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.4%.

The annual inflation rate in Germany increased to 7.4% in April from 7.3% in the prior month..

Economics

Annual inflation rate in the US eased to 8.3% in April compared to a 41-year high level of 8.5% in the previous month. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 8.1%.

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 Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget statement for April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 83,778,760 cases with around 1,025,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,110,580 cases and 524,150 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,594,380 COVID-19 cases with 664,440 deaths. In total, there were at least 518,581,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,280,530 deaths.