Crude Oil Falls Over 3%; Philip Morris Earnings Top Views

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 500 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 1.29% to 39,693.36 while the NASDAQ gained 2.83% to 16,762.22. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.85% to 5,385.74.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 5.2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares rose by just 0.2%.

Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. PM reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY25 adjusted EPS guidance above estimates.

The tobacco giant’s revenue increased 5.8% year over year to $9.30 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $9.12 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.69 beat the consensus estimate of $1.61.

Equities Trading UP

Pony AI Inc. PONY shares shot up 34% to $5.59 after the company showcased its 7th-gen autonomous system and robotaxi fleet.
Shares of Ensysce Biosciences, Inc. ENSCgot a boost, surging 96% to $3.6301 after the company announced it has received U.S. patent PF9001 for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
Sonoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNOA shares were also up, gaining 53% to $3.56 after the company announced the registration and launch of new products in the UK.

Equities Trading DOWN

Charles & Colvard, Ltd. CTHR shares dropped 38% to $0.5078 after the company announced it received a Nasdaq delisting notice.
Shares of Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH were down 10% to $48.14 after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results. Also, BMO Capital lowered its price target on the stock from $59 to $46.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd CHKP was down, falling 6% to $198.55 following first-quarter results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.1% to $62.29 while gold traded down 3.9% at $3,287.70.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $33.180 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.5% to $4.8535.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 jumped 2.07%, Germany's DAX 40 jumped 3.19% and France's CAC 40 gained 2.62%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.29%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 1.19%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 surging 1.89%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.10%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 2.37% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.65%.

Economics

Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. jumped by 7.4% to an annualized rate of 724,000.
The S&P Global services PMI dipped to 51.4 in April from 54.4 in the prior month.
The S&P Global manufacturing PMI climbed to 50.7 in April from 50.2 in the previous month.
U.S. crude oil inventories in the increased by 244,000 barrels in the week ended April 18, versus market expectations of a 700,000 barrel decline.

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