US Stocks Mixed; Amazon Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 0.1% on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09% to 37,851.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.04% to 15,663.99. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.16% to 5,027.53.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares rose by 0.7% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

Amazon.com Inc AMZN reported upbeat results for its first quarter on Tuesday, but issued weak sales forecast for the second quarter.

The company reported first-quarter net sales of $143.3 billion, up 13% year-over-year. The net sales total beat a Street consensus estimate of $142.5 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Amazon is guiding for second-quarter net sales to be in a range of $144 billion to $149 billion. The analyst consensus estimate is $150.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. CTMX shares shot up 73% to $2.82. CytomX Therapeutics will report first quarter 2024 results and issue an initial CX-904 Phase 1a clinical data update on May 8.
• Shares of Akanda Corp. AKAN got a boost, surging 45% to $0.1346. Shares of cannabis-related stocks traded higher following reports suggesting the DEA plans to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug.
• Palisade Bio, Inc. PALI shares were also up, gaining 46% to $8.78 after the company announced completion of its analysis to determine the effects of bioactivated PALI-2108 on TNF-α production in a whole blood assay.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Cemtrex, Inc. CETX shares dropped 73% to $0.3030 after the company announced pricing of a $10 million upsized underwritten public offering.
• Shares of CVRx, Inc. CVRX were down 42% to $9.05 after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results. JP Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $36 to $13.
• Leggett & Platt, Incorporated LEG was down, falling 39% to $11.06 after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results. The company also reduced its dividend.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.3% to $80.87 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,303.70.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $26.735 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.6% to $4.5355.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

The S&P Global UK manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 49.1 in April from a preliminary reading of 48.7, while Nationwide House Price Index increased 0.6% year-over-year in April.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.34%.

Japan's au Jibun Bank manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 49.6 in April compared to preliminary reading of 49.9.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 2.3% from the prior week in the period ending April 26.

U.S. private employers added 192,000 new jobs during the month of April, compared to a revised 208,000 in March, topping market estimates of a 175,000 gain.

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