Crude Oil Moves Lower; Louisiana-Pacific Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones falling more than 50 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.20% to 38,194.62 while the NASDAQ rose 0.19% to 15,686.43. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.11% to 4,958.84.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Industrials shares rose by 1% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.2%.

 

Top Headline

 

Louisiana-Pacific Corp LPX reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Louisiana-Pacific reported a fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 net sales decline of 6.7% year-over-year to $658 million, beating the consensus of $619.97 million. Adjusted EPS was 71 cents, up from 61 cents YoY, beating the consensus of 55 cents

 

Equities Trading UP

 

enGene Holdings Inc. ENGN shares shot up 75% to $13.34. The company’s CEO Jason Hanson is resigning due to personal family and health reasons, though he will continue to support the company as a strategic advisor after a successor is appointed. Concurrently, enGene announced a private placement of 20 million common shares at $10.00 per share, representing a 31% premium over the previous day’s closing price.

Shares of Lyft, Inc. LYFT got a boost, surging 34% to $16.22 after the company reported fourth-quarter sales of $1.22 billion and gross bookings of $3.7 billion, up 17% year-over-year. The company’s CFO, Erin Brewer, said the adjusted EBITDA margin is projected to expand 50 basis points in 2024.

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. HCSG shares were also up, gaining 27% to $12.01 following upbeat earnings.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Azitra, Inc. AZTR shares dropped 70% to $0.2626. Azitra priced its $5 million public offering of 16.667 million common shares at $0.30 per share.

Shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation QDEL were down 33% to $44.92 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued FY24 adjusted EPS below estimates.

Ohmyhome Limited OMH was down, falling 39% to $1.38 after the company priced its upsized $4.8 million public offering of 3,555,555 ordinary shares at $1.35 per share.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $77.38 while gold traded down 0.5% at $1,998.20.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $22.19 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.2% to $3.7040.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.52%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.69% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.01% The German DAX rose 0.41% French CAC 40 rose 0.70% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.64%.

The Eurozone economy stagnated in the final quarter of 2023, compared to a 0.1% decline in the prior three-month period. Industrial production in the Eurozone increased by 2.6% month-over-month in December.

The UK’s inflation rate came in unchanged at 4.0% in January, compared to market estimates of 4.2%. Factory gate prices of goods produced by UK manufacturers fell 0.6% year-over-year in January following a 0.1% increase in December.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.69%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.84% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining around 0.5%.

India’s wholesale prices increased by 0.27% year-over-year in January, compared to 0.73% in December.

 

Economics

 

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 2.3% in the week ending Feb. 9, compared to a 3.7% increase in the prior week.

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. surged by 12.018 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 9, compared to market estimates of a 2.56 million rise.

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