Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.21% to 23,833 while the NASDAQ rose 1.61% to 8,911. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 2,870.
The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. U.S. reported a total of 1,205,130 coronavirus cases with around 71,070 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 219,320 coronavirus cases with 25,610 deaths, while Italy reported a total of at least 213,010 confirmed cases and 29,310 deaths. In total, there were at least 3,688,630 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 258,080 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Information technology shares climbed by 1.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LivePerson, Inc. LPSN, up 42%, and Everbridge, Inc. EVBG, up 23%.
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.9%.
Top Headline
General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.
GM reported quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, which exceeded the analyst consensus estimate of $0.33. The company reported quarterly sales of $32.7 billion, which surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $31.12 billion.
Equities Trading UP
MacroGenics, Inc. MGNX shares shot up 193% to $22.25 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.
Shares of CPS Technologies Corporation CPSH got a boost, shooting 31% to $1.44 following Q1 results. CPS Technologies posted Q1 earnings of $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.06 per share.
Cars.com Inc. CARS shares were also up, gaining 61% to $7.28 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.
Equities Trading DOWN
Nautilus, Inc. NLS shares tumbled 20% to $5.30 after the company reported weak Q1 sales.
Shares of The Andersons, Inc. ANDE were down 16% to $13.01 after reporting Q1 results. Andersons posted a Q1 loss of $1.32 per share.
Inogen, Inc. INGN was down, falling 20% to $42.31 after the company reported Q1 results and withdrew its FY20 guidance.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 5.1% to $23.32, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,688.80.
Silver traded down 0.4% Wednesday to $15.05, while copper rose 0.7% to $2.3485.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.35%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.13%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.31%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.15%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.11% while UK shares rose 0.07%.
Economics
Private-sector companies fired 20.2 million workers in April, after shedding a revised 149,000 workers in the prior month, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.
U.S. crude inventories climbed 4.6 million barrels for the week ended May 1, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 7.1 million barrels.
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