Dow Jumps Over 200 Points; Performance Food Group Shares Gain After Q4 Results

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 200 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.60% to 40,005.76 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 17,189.62. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 5,451.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares climbed by 0.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Performance Food Group Company PFGC shares gained 8% on Wednesday following the release of quarterly results.

The company reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.45 (+27.2%), beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.37. Quarterly sales of $15.189 billion missed the street view of $15.266 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Avalon Globocare Corp ALBT shares shot up 133% to $0.6122 after the company announced its Laboratory Services MSO, LLC has begun manufacturing the GeeWhiz external male catheter.
• Shares of Digital Ally Inc DGLY got a boost, surging 64% to $1.3803 after the company was granted a U.S. Patent for tracking and analysis of drivers within a fleet of vehicles.
• Serve Robotics Inc. SERV shares were also up, gaining 24% to $12.87 after the company announced a partnership with Shake Shack to deliver products using autonomous delivery robots through Uber Eats.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Ouster Inc OUST shares dropped 26% to $8.10 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter sales results and issued third-quarter revenue guidance below estimates.
• Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc VRCA were down 27% to $3.8000. On Wednesday, dermatology drug developer Verrica Pharmaceuticals released preliminary results from Part 2 of its Phase 2 trial of VP-315 for basal cell carcinoma.
• European Wax Center Inc EWCZ was down, falling 25% to $5.23 after the company reported second quarter fiscal year 2024 results and named David Berg as Chief Executive Officer.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $78.16 while gold traded down 0.6% at $2,493.90.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $27.695 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.0760.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.27%, Germany's DAX rose 0.26% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.59%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.17%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.36%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 0.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.35%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.60% and S&P BSE Sensex rising 0.19%.

Economics

• Headline CPI inflation fell from 3% in June to 2.9% in July 2024 on a year-over-year basis, falling short of the consensus forecast of 3% tracked by TradingEconomics.
• On a monthly basis, inflation increased by 0.2% in July, rebounding from the previous month’s contraction of 0.1% and matching estimates of 0.2%.

Now Read This:

• Wall Street’s Most Accurate Analysts Weigh In On 3 Tech Stocks With Over 3% Dividend Yields