Nasdaq Surges Over 100 Points; Microsoft Tops Q3 Estimates

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.12% to 33,570.69 while the NASDAQ rose 0.99% to 11,916.53. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.23% to 4,081.08.

 

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Information technology shares rose by 1.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TeraWulf Inc. WULF, up 14%, and Manhattan Associates, Inc. MANH, up 14%.
• In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares dipped by 2%.

 

 

Top Headline

Microsoft Corporation MSFT reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Tuesday.

Microsoft said revenue increased 7% year-over-year to $52.9 billion, exceeding consensus estimates of $51.02 billion. The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.45 per share, which beat estimates of $2.23 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

• SAI.TECH Global Corporation SAI shares shot up 58% to $4.4000 after gaining 9% on Tuesday. SAI.TECH Global recently anounced appointments of Harry Sun to be Chief Technology Officer and Tao Wu to be Chief Operating Officer of SAI.TECH's new Product Line ULTIAAS.
• Shares of Wabash National Corporation WNC got a boost, shooting 14% to $25.38 after the company posted Q1 results and increased FY23 EPS guidance.
• PROG Holdings, Inc. PRG shares were also up, gaining 16% to $29.81 after the company announced better-than-expected Q1 results.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

• Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH shares dropped 25% to $164.51 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales and issued weak Q2 guidance.
• Shares of Baudax Bio, Inc. BXRX were down 25% to $1.57. Baudax Bio recently announced top-line final results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of BX1000 for neuromuscular blockade in patients undergoing elective surgery.
• First Republic Bank FRC was down, falling 18% to $6.61 on continued downward momentum after the company announced a decline in deposits and revenue for Q1. Also, Maxim Group downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

 

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.2% to $76.12 while gold traded up 0.6% at $2,016.80.

Silver traded up 1.3% to $25.205 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.4% to $3.8785.

Stocks of crude oil in the US fell by 6.083 million barrels in the week ended April 21, 2023, the API said.

 

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.7% The German DAX fell 0.6%, French CAC 40 fell 1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.8%.

Labor productivity in the UK increased 0.4% on quarter during the three months to December. The consumer confidence in France rose to 83 in April versus a revised reading of 82 in the prior month. German GfK Consumer Climate Indicator rose to -25.7 heading into May, the highest level since April 2022.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.71%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.71% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.02%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.1%.

Singapore’s manufacturing production dropped by 4.2% year-over-year for March. The annual inflation rate in Australia eased to 7.0% in the first quarter from 7.8% in the prior period.

 

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the US climbed 3.7% in the week ended April 21, 2023.
• U.S. durable goods orders increased by 3.2% from a month ago in March following a revised 1.2% drop in February.
• Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose 0.1% month-over-month in March.
• The U.S. trade deficit in goods shrank to $84.6 billion in March versus a revised $92 billion gap in the prior month.

 

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,585,470 cases with around 1,159,410 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,905,820 cases and 531,360 deaths, while France reported over 39,960,320 COVID-19 cases with 166,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 686,647,370 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,860,770 deaths.