Gold Moves Higher; Campbell Soup Earnings Top Expectations

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.05% to 36,143.40 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06% to 14,221.51. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.05% to 4,564.73.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Consumer discretionary shares rose by 0.9% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares dipped by 1.8%.

 

Top Headline

 

Campbell Soup Co CPB reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and reaffirmed FY24 guidance.

Campbell Soup reported a first-quarter FY24 sales decline of 2% year-on-year to $2.52 billion, in line with the analyst consensus. Adjusted EPS of $0.91 beat the analyst consensus of $0.88.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Sera Prognostics, Inc. SERA shares shot up 221% to $6.97 after the company announced the DSMB overseeing its PRIME study recommended stopping enrollment due to efficacy.

Shares of MicroAlgo Inc. MLGO got a boost, shooting 145% to $5.92 after the company announced it plans to establish a postgraduate training practice base.

Pharvaris N.V. PHVS shares were also up, gaining 28% to $26.86 after the company announced the CHAPTER-1 Phase 2 clinical study met its primary endpoint.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. IPA shares dropped 22% to $1.1953 after the company announced pricing of a $1.1 million public offering of common shares.

Shares of Yext, Inc. YEXT were down 20% to $5.58 after the company reported third-quarter financial results and issued guidance.

OptiNose, Inc. OPTN was down, falling 23% to $1.1387 after the company announced a three-month extension of the FDA review period for the supplemental new drug application for XHANCE as a treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.3% to $69.24 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,046.90.

Silver traded down 1.2% to $24.25 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.3% to $3.7360.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.52%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.34% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.19% The German DAX rose 0.75% French CAC 40 rose 0.66%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.81%.

Retail sales in the Eurozone rose by 0.1% month-over-month in October, versus market expectations of a 0.2% increase. The HCOB Eurozone construction PMI climbed to 43.4 in November compared to October's ten-month low level of 42.7.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI fell to 45.5 in November from 45.6 in the previous month, while France construction PMI rose to 44.6 in November from October’s reading of 41. Germany’s construction PMI declined to 36.2 in November from 38.3 in October.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumping 2.04%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.83% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.11%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, climbed 0.52%.

The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers in Japan climbed to a reading of +12 in December versus +6 a month ago. The Australian economy expanded 0.2% quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter versus a 0.4% increase in the second quarter.

 

Economics

 

U.S. private businesses hired 103,000 workers in November compared to a revised 106,000 gain in October and versus markets expectations of 130,000.

The U.S. trade gap increased to $64.3 billion in October from a revised $61.2 billion gap in September.

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity rose by 5.2% in the third quarter compared to preliminary estimates of 4.7% growth.

Unit labor costs in the US nonfarm business sector declined an annualized 1.2% during the third quarter versus the preliminary estimate of a 0.8% decline.

The EIA said crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 4.632 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 1, 2023, following a 1.609 million increase in the prior period.

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