Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Surges 150 Points; US Crude Oil Inventories Fall By 2.6M Barrels

U.S. stocks extended gains midway through trading, with the Nasdaq index jumping 150 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 1.71% to 33,865.43 while the NASDAQ rose 1.11% to 13,682.58. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.56% to 4,377.68.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares climbed by 2.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Prudential Bancorp, Inc. PBIP, up 18% and Qudian Inc. QD up 10%.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares rose by just 0.6%.

Top Headline

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.597 million barrels in the week ended February 25th, versus a 4.515 million increase in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting for a 2.748 million barrel gain.

Equities Trading UP

Nordstrom, Inc. JWN shares shot up 39% to $27.11 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results. The company also issued FY22 guidance.

Shares of Arlo Technologies, Inc. ARLO got a boost, shooting 31% to $11.34 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued Q1 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Organogenesis Holdings Inc. ORGO shares were also up, gaining 22% to $8.86 after the company reported Q4 EPS results up from last year and better-than-expected sales results.

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Equities Trading DOWN

SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. SABS shares tumbled 39% to $2.81. SAB Biotherapeutics said that due to low hospitalization and death rates in the trial, the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) ACTIV-2 Program is discontinuing enrollment in its Phase 3 COVID-19 trial.

Shares of Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. KPTI were down 34% to $6.88 after the company announced it received feedback from the FDA that the current SIENDO study top-line results are unlikely to support an sNDA approval.

a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. AKA was down, falling 22% to $5.43 after the company issued Q1 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 5.7% to $109.28, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,931.50.

Silver traded down 1.3% Wednesday to $25.21 while copper rose 1.5% to $4.6695.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.90%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.36%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.62%. The German DAX gained 0.69%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.59% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.70%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to a fresh record high of 5.8% in February from 5.1% in January. The unemployment rate in Germany fell to 5% in February from 5.1% in January. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain declined by 11,394 from a month ago to 3.11 million during February.

French government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 15.9 billion in January from EUR 21.9 billion in the previous month. House prices in the UK surged by 12.6% year-over-year in February.

Economics

Private businesses hired 475,000 workers in February, the ADP said.

US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.597 million barrels in the week ended February 25th, versus a 4.515 million increase in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting for a 2.748 million barrel gain.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 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 80,697,920 cases with around 977,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,938,590 cases and 514,240 deaths, while Brazil reported over 28,811,160 COVID-19 cases with 649,710 deaths. In total, there were at least 439,261,310 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,986,710 deaths.