Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Nasdaq Gains Over 1%

US stocks opened on strong note on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite surging more than 1% this morning.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.77% to 35,736.30 while the NASDAQ rose 1.08% to 14,348.25. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.06% to 4,569.28.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 1.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Standard Lithium Ltd. SLI, up 9% and FMC Corporation FMC up 6%.

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

Top Headline

CVS Health Corporation CVS posted better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

CVS Health posted quarterly earnings of $1.98 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.83 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $76.60 billion, versus market expectations of $75.55 billion.

CVS Health confirmed its FY22 GAAP EPS of $7.04 - $7.24 and adjusted EPS of $8.10 - $8.30, compared to the consensus of $8.28. The company also revised its full-year 2022 cash flow from operations guidance to $12.0 billion - $13.0 billion from $12.5 billion - $13.0 billion.

Equities Trading UP

US Ecology, Inc. ECOL shares shot up 69% to $47.47 after Republic Services reported it will buy the company at $48 per share in cash.

Shares of Tritium DCFC Limited DCFC got a boost, shooting 33% to $12.71. Tritium DCFC shares surged nearly 40% Tuesday after the Australian EV charging company announced its new manufacturing facility will be located in the United States. Tritium CEO Jane Hunter appeared at the White House to make the announcement yesterday.

Doximity, Inc. DOCS shares were also up, gaining 24% to $61.97 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and issued FY22 sales guidance above estimates.

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Equities Trading DOWN

QuinStreet, Inc. QNST shares tumbled 32% to $10.61 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 adjusted EPS and sales results and cut FY22 guidance. Lake Street downgraded QuinStreet from Buy to Hold.

Shares of New Relic, Inc. NEWR were down 26% to $81.24 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 adjusted EPS results and issued Q4 and FY22 adjusted EPS guidance below estimates.

Cyren Ltd. CYRN was down, falling 23% to $3.12. Cyren dropped 14% on Tuesday after the company announced a 1-for-20 reverse split.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $88.88, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,828.

Silver traded up 0.2% Wednesday to $23.235 while copper fell 0.3% to $4.45.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.5%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.3%. The German DAX rose 1.6%, French CAC 40 rose 1.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.9%.

Italy’s industrial production fell 1% from a month ago in December. The Germany’s trade surplus shrank to EUR 7 billion in December from EUR 15.1 billion in the year-ago period, while current account surplus narrowed to EUR 23.9 billion from EUR 26.2 billion.

Economics

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 2.2% to $789.4 billion in December.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman is set to speak at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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Check out the full economic calendar here

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 78,556,190 cases with around 932,440 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,410,970 cases and 505,300 deaths, while Brazil reported over 26,776,620 COVID-19 cases with 633,890 deaths. In total, there were at least 401,645,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,784,490 deaths.