Nasdaq Down 50 Points; US Crude Stocks Rise By 4.2M Barrels

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling around 50 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.19% to 38,899.92 while the NASDAQ fell 0.31% to 15,985.25. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.11% to 5,072.67.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Real estate shares rose by 1.1% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell by 0.8%.

 

Top Headline

 

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 4.199 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 23, versus market estimates of a 2.743 million gain, the EIA said.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Vivani Medical, Inc. VANI shares shot up 301% to $4.05 after the company announced preclinical data on weight loss effects for NPM-115 and disclosed that semaglutide is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in NPM-139.

Shares of Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADIL got a boost, surging 164% to $2.2350. Adial Pharmaceuticals secured new US patent covering lead product for alcohol use disorder.

vTv Therapeutics Inc. VTVT shares were also up, gaining 136% to $19.61 after the company announced a $51 million private placement from healthcare-focused institutional investors and the JDRF T1D Fund.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN shares dropped 43% to $1.40. Oragenics priced its public offering 1.4 million common shares at $1.50 per share for gross proceeds of $2.1 million.

Shares of Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. IAS were down 41% to $10.15 after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results.

Inogen, Inc. INGN was down, falling 35% to $6.12 following weak quarterly results.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $78.38 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,043.80.

Silver traded fell 0.5% to $22.645 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.3% to $3.8390.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.35%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.76% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.45% The German DAX gained 0.25% French CAC 40 rose 0.08% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.27%.

The services confidence indicator in the Eurozone fell to 6 in February, the lowest in three months, while economic sentiment indicator fell to 95.4 in February. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone increased by 0.6 points to a reading of -15.5 in February.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.08%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipping 1.51%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 1.91% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex falling 1.08%.

Hong Kong’s GDP increased by 4.3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, up from a 4.1% increase in the prior period. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan was revised higher to 110.2 in December versus preliminary reading of 110, while index of coincident economic indicators was revised lower to 115.9 in December versus a flash reading of 116.2.

 

Economics

 

U.S. mortgage applications fell by 5.6% on the week ending Feb. 23.

The U.S. economy grew an annualized 3.2% in the fourth quarter, versus a 4.9% rate in the previous quarter.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods rose to $90.20 billion in January versus a revised $87.89 billion in the prior month.

U.S. wholesale inventories declined by 0.1% month-over-month in January following a 0.4% increase a month ago.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 4.199 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 23, versus market estimates of a 2.743 million gain, the EIA said.

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