Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Mercury Systems Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 250 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.65% to 40,022.71 while the NASDAQ fell 0.20% to 17,153.85. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 5,447.57.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares climbed by 1.1% on Tuesday.

In trading on Tuesday, communication services shares fell 1.3%.

Top Headline

UBS Group AG UBS posted strong second-quarter earnings.

UBS Group reported second-quarter FY24 sales of $11.9 billion, up 25% Y/Y, beating the consensus of $11.3 billion.

Underlying operating profit before tax reached $2.06 billion, significantly higher than $891 million a year ago. EPS of 34 cents beat the consensus of 12 cents.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Avalon Globocare Corp ALBT shares shot up 119% to $0.5754 after the company announced its Laboratory Services MSO, LLC has begun manufacturing the GeeWhiz external male catheter.
• Shares of Digital Ally Inc DGLY got a boost, surging 72% to $1.4436 after the company was granted a U.S. Patent for tracking and analysis of drivers within a fleet of vehicles.
• Mercury Systems, Inc. MRCY shares were also up, gaining 18% to $40.08 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Ouster Inc OUST shares dropped 26% to $8.07 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter sales results and issued third-quarter revenue guidance below estimates.
• Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc VRCA were down 35% to $3.4392. On Wednesday, dermatology drug developer Verrica Pharmaceuticals released preliminary results from Part 2 of its Phase 2 trial of VP-315 for basal cell carcinoma.
• European Wax Center Inc EWCZ was down, falling 28% to $5.01 after the company reported second quarter fiscal year 2024 results and named David Berg as Chief Executive Officer.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $77.14 while gold traded down 1.1% at $2,480.10.

Silver traded down 1.5% to $27.37 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.3% to $4.0410.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.49%, Germany's DAX rose 0.41% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.79%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.27%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.56%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 0.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.35%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.60% and S&P BSE Sensex rising 0.19%.

Economics

• Headline CPI inflation fell from 3% in June to 2.9% in July 2024 on a year-over-year basis, falling short of the consensus forecast of 3% tracked by TradingEconomics.
• On a monthly basis, inflation increased by 0.2% in July, rebounding from the previous month’s contraction of 0.1% and matching estimates of 0.2%.
• U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 1.357 million barrels in the week ending Aug. 9, ending a six-week streak of declines. 

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