Crude Oil Gains Over 3%; US Manufacturing Activity Contracts For 14th Consecutive Month

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 150 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.79% to 37,417.28 while the NASDAQ fell 1.01% to 14,616.58. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.78% to 4,705.94.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Energy shares rose by 0.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell by 2.2%.

 

Top Headline

 

The ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.4 in December from 46.7 in the prior month, and topping than market estimates of 47.1. However, the recent reading signalled contraction in factory activity for the 14th month.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Sidus Space, Inc. SIDU shares shot up 77% to $12.31 after it secured a Tier 1 remote sensing license to include Panchromatic (PAN) and Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) imaging capabilities.

Shares of Trinity Place Holdings Inc. TPHS got a boost, surging 58% to $0.1801. The company reported in 8K Filing, mortgage lender agreed to extend the mortgage loan forbearance period to Jan. 31, 2024.

Sigma Additive Solutions, Inc. SASI shares were also up, gaining 43% to $4.1350. Sigma Additive Solutions, announced in an 8-K Filing, the approval of the issuance of the shares of common stock in exchange for all the capital stock of NextTrip Holdings.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

SoFi Technologies, Inc. SOFI shares dropped 14% to $8.32 after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded rating on the stock from Market Perform to Underperform and lowered the price target from $7.50 to $6.50.

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR were down 27% to $2.1350 after the company announced a $125 million amendment to the collaboration with Japanese pharma company Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.

Nemaura Medical Inc. NMRD was down, falling 25% to $0.1405. Nemaura Medical's board of directors and management team have made the strategic decision to accept Nasdaq's determination to delist Nemaura Medical and move to the OTC Markets.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.2% to $72.61 while gold traded down 1.6% at $2,040.50.

Silver traded down 3.7% to $23.06 on Wednesday while copper fell 1.1% to $3.8390.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.11%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.68% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.38% The German DAX fell 1.68% French CAC 40 fell 1.93% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.65%.

German jobless rate rose to 5.9% in December from November's revised reading of 5.8%. The number of people registering as jobless in Spain fell by 1%, reaching 2.71 million for December.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.85% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.17%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 0.75%.

The S&P Global Indian manufacturing PMI fell to 54.9 in December from 56.0 in the prior month. Australian CoreLogic Home Value Index increased 0.4% in December versus a 0.6% increase a month ago.

 

Economics

 

Mortgage applications in the U.S. declined by 10.7% in the week ending Dec. 29.

The number of job openings fell by 62,000 from the prior month to 8.790 million in November, compared to market estimates of 8.85 million.

The ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.4 in December from 46.7 in the prior month, and topping than market estimates of 47.1. However, the recent reading signalled contraction in factory activity for the 14th month.

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