Dow Edges Higher; ISM Manufacturing PMI Rises In February

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 30 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.12% to 32,695.97 while the NASDAQ fell 0.23% to 11,429.16. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.17% to 3,963.32.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares rose 2.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Amplify Energy Corp. AMPY, up 20%, and Amplify Energy Corp. GPOR, up 17%.
• In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI rose to 47.7 in February from 47.4 in the previous month.

Equities Trading UP

• Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RETA shares shot up 173% to $85.08 after the company reported the FDA approval of SKYCLARYS for patients with Friedreich's Ataxia.
• Shares of Nerdy, Inc. NRDY got a boost, shooting 29% to $3.25 following better-than-expected Q4 results.
• OncoSec Medical Incorporated ONCS shares were also up, gaining 102% to $2.1852 after the company requested the withdrawal of its registration statement, saying it has opted not to pursue the offering at this time.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Performance Shipping Inc. PSHG shares tumbled 56% to $1.1709 after the company reported pricing of $12.5 million registered direct offering of 5.556 million shares of common stock at a price of $2.25 per share.
• Shares of Xometry, Inc. XMTR were down 40% to $18.35 after the company announced downbeat quarterly results.
• Montrose Environmental Group, Inc. MEG was down, falling 30% to $34.30 following weak quarterly sales.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $77.25 while gold traded up 0.6% at $1,848.30.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $21.24 on Wednesday while copper rose 1.4% to $4.1460.

Stocks of crude oil in the US rose by 6.203 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 24, 2023, the American Petroleum Institute said. US crude oil supplies climbed more than 1 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.44%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.79% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.52%. The German DAX declined 0.1% French CAC 40 fell 0.04% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.1%.

The S&P Global Eurozone manufacturing PMI came in at 48.5 in February compared to 48.8 in January. The S&P Global/BME manufacturing PMI for Germany was revised lower to 46.3 in February versus a preliminary level of 46.5, while jobless rate in the country stood at 5.5% in February.

French manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 47.4 in February versus a preliminary reading of 47.9, while Spain manufacturing PMI increased to 50.7 in February from 48.4 in January. The Nationwide House Price Index in the UK dropped by 1.1% year-over-year in February.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.26%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumping 4.21% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.8%.

The S&P Global India manufacturing PMI fell to a four-month low level of 55.3 in February from 55.4 a month ago. The au Jibun Bank Japanese manufacturing PMI declined to 47.7 in February from 48.9 a month ago.

The official NBS non-manufacturing PMI for China rose to 56.3 in February, while manufacturing PMI rose to 52.6. The Australian economy expanded 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in Q4, while the country’s manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in February.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the US dropped 5.7% in the week ended Feb. 24, 2023.
• The S&P Global manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 47.3 in February versus a preliminary reading of 47.8.
• The ISM manufacturing PMI rose to 47.7 in February from 47.4 in the previous month.
• Construction spending fell by 0.1% month-over-month to $1.826 trillion in January.

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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 105,285,340 cases with around 1,145,660 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,686,610 cases and 530,770 deaths, while France reported over 39,622,230 COVID-19 cases with 164,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 679,997,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,800,330 deaths.