U.S. Stocks Turn Negative; 2U Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks pared gains midway through trading, with all the three major indices turning lower on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.10% to 30,916.14 while the NASDAQ fell 0.70% to 11,103.58. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.52% to 3,801.56.

Also check this: McCormick, General Mills And 3 Stocks To Watch Heading Into Wednesday

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares jumped by 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Agenus Inc. AGEN, up 24% and Akouos Inc AKUS up 23%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.762 million barrels in the week ended June 24th, compared to a 0.386 million decline in the prior period, the EIA said.

Equities Trading UP

Agenus Inc. AGEN shares shot up 24% to $2.29 after the company announced expanded data from the Phase 1b study of botensilimab and balstilimab in patients with microsatellite stable colorectal cancer.

Shares of 2U, Inc. TWOU got a boost, shooting 22% to $11.32. Indian online education provider Byju’s offered to buy 2U for $15 a share in cash, valuing the edtech company at more than $1 billion, reported Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Allena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNA shares were also up, gaining 236% to $0.40 after the company announced it has terminated its previously announced at-the-market offering.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. ASPN shares tumbled 40% to $8.85 following news of a $225 million offering by the company. The offering follows news earlier in June of reduced 2022 bottom-line guidance by the Aspen Aerogels.

Shares of Agile Therapeutics, Inc. AGRX were down 28% to $1.7415. Agile Therapeutics filed for offering of up to 15.7 million shares.

Icosavax, Inc. ICVX was down, falling 26% to $6.25 after the company announced interim results from its Phase 1/1b clinical trial of IVX-121, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) F antigen, in young and older adults.

Also check out: U.S. Stock Futures Edge Higher; GDP Report In Focus

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $112.67, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,816.20.

Silver traded down 1.2% to $20.555 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.4% to $3.7950.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.02% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.55%. The German DAX dropped 1.52%, French CAC 40 fell 0.79% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.96%.

Retail sales in Spain rose by 1.4% year-over-year in May compared to revised 1.6% increase in the prior month, while annual inflation rate increased to 10.2% in June from 8.7% in May. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.6% year-over-year in May.

Economics

The US economy contracted by an annualized rate of 1.6% on quarter in the first quarter, compared to a 1.5% decline in the second estimate. The country’s economy recorded the first contraction since the pandemic-induced recession in 2020.

Corporate profits in the US dropped 4.9% to $2.40 trillion in the first quarter.

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.762 million barrels in the week ended June 24th, compared to a 0.386 million decline in the prior period, the EIA said.

Check out this: US GDP And Other Macro Issues For Wednesday

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 89,030,720 cases with around 1,041,350 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,436,430 cases and 525,070 deaths, while Brazil reported over 32,207,080 COVID-19 cases with 670,900 deaths. In total, there were at least 550,871,330 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,354,200 deaths.