Nasdaq Jumps Over 300 Points Following Comments From Fed Chair Powell

U.S. stocks turned sharply higher toward the end of trading, following comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow traded up 0.93% to 34,166.20 while the NASDAQ rose 2.86% to 11,297.71. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.72% to 4,025.67.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose by 0.8% on Wednesday. Leading the sector was strength from Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc. RADI and HUYA Inc. HUYA.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell by 1.3%.

Top Headline

 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed could slow the pace of rate hikes as soon as the December FOMC meeting but that there is a long way to go in bringing inflation down. "Inflation remains way too high. My colleagues and I are acutely aware that inflation is imposing significant hardship, straining budgets and shrinking what paychecks will buy," Powell said.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

• XPeng Inc. XPEV shares shot up 44% to $10.58 after the company reported Q3 earnings and delivery results and issued Q4 sales and delivery guidance.
• Shares of Titan Machinery Inc. TITN got a boost, shooting 19% to $41.35 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 adjusted EPS and sales results.
• Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company HZNP shares were also up, gaining 27% to $99.76 after the company confirmed preliminary discussions regarding a potential offer. The company is in discussions with Amgen, Janssen and Sanofi.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

• Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. AGLE shares tumbled 61% to $0.48 after the company announced it no longer plans to announce interim clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of pegtarviliase in Classical Homocystinuria in Q4 2022. Aeglea BioTherapeutics appointed Jeffrey M. Goldberg as president, chief executive officer, and a board member, effective November 29, 2022.
• Shares of WiSA Technologies, Inc. WISA were down 35% to $0.1079. WiSA Technologies announced pricing of $7.6 million public offering of 50.4 million units at a price of $0.14 per unit.
• OncoSec Medical Incorporated ONCS was down, falling 24% to $2.91. OncoSec reported pricing of $3.5 million public offering.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $80.32 while gold traded up 0.2% at $1,767.40.

Silver traded up 1.7% to $21.81 on Wednesday while copper rose 2.3% to $3.7250.

Stocks of crude oil in the US fell by 7.85 million barrels during the week ended November, the API said late Tuesday.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.63%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.81% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.49%. The German DAX gained 0.29%, French CAC 40 rose 1.04% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.59%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone declined to 10% in November versus a record high level of 10.6% in the previous month. Spain reported a current account surplus of €0.36 billion in September compared to a €1.5 billion surplus in the year-ago period. Domestic producer prices in France fell by 0.1% month-over-month in October. Germany’s unemployment rate rose to 5.6% in November from 5.5% in the prior month.

Consumer prices in Italy climbed 11.8% year-over-year in November, while gross domestic product grew by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter during the three months to September. The French economy grew 0.2% on quarter in the third quarter, while annual inflation rate came in unchanged at 6.2% in November.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly mixed on Wednesday, with the Japan’s Nikkei dropping 0.21% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumping 2.16%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.05%.

The official NBS Manufacturing PMI for China dropped to 48.0 in November from 49.2, while non-manufacturing PMI fell to 46.7 from 48.7. Private sector credit in Australia rose 0.6% month-over-month in October, while building permits fell by 6.0% month-over-month to 15,382 units during the month. The monthly Consumer Price Index indicator in Australia climbed 6.9% in the year to October. Industrial production in Japan dropped 2.6% month-over-month for October.

 

Economics

 

• Private businesses in the US added 127,000 jobs in November, down from market estimates of 200,000.
• The US economy expanded by an annualized rate of 2.9% on quarter in the third quarter, compared to an initial estimate of 2.6%, and above market estimates of 2.7%.
• The trade gap on goods in the US increased to $99 billion in October versus a revised $91.9 billion gap a month ago.
• Wholesale inventories in the US climbed by 0.8 % month-over-month to $925.8 billion in October.
• The Chicago PMI fell to 37.2 points in November from 45.20 points a month ago.
• Pending home sales in the US dropped by 4.6% month-over-month in October.
• The number of job openings in the US fell by 353,000 to 10.3 million in October.
• US crude oil inventories dropped by 12.58 million barrels in the week ended November 25th, versus market estimates of a 2.758-million-barrel decline, the US Energy Information Administration reported.

 

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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 100,532,710 cases with around 1,105,050 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,673,370 cases and 530,620 deaths, while France reported over 37,778,410 COVID-19 cases with 158,850 deaths. In total, there were at least 647,587,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,639,170 deaths.