U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 300 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.79% to 46,489.92 while the NASDAQ rose 0.95% to 21,967.56. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.72% to 6,603.85.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed by 1.9% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy stocks fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY) shares jumped around 14% on Wednesday after the online pet‑care retailer delivered a stronger‑than‑expected fourth quarter and rolled out a solid fiscal guidance for 2026.

Chewy posted fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 27 cents per share, beating the consensus of 20 cents and within the management guidance of 24 cents to 27 cents.

The retailer of pet supplies reported sales of $3.265 billion, up 0.5% year over year (+8.1% on a normalized 13-week basis), compared to the consensus of $3.262 billion and the management guidance of $3.24 billion-$3.26 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) shares shot up 29% to $22.63 after the company announced that early results from Phase 1/2 studies of SRP-1001 for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 and SRP-1003 for myotonic dystrophy type 1. Also, the company generated proof-of-concept data for SRP-1001 and SRP-1003.
  • Shares of Braze Inc (NASDAQ:BRZE) got a boost, surging 22% to $21.96 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales results and issued FY27 sales guidance above estimates. Also, the company announced a $100 million share buyback.
  • Corcept Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CORT) shares were also up, gaining 20% to $40.68 after the FDA approved relacorilant in combination with nab-paclitaxel for the treatment of adults with platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:AVXL) shares dropped 35% to $2.74 after the company announced that it withdrew its application for European Medicines Agency marketing authorization of blarcamesine in the EU as an add-on therapy for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease in adults.
  • Shares of Maze Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MAZE) were down 32% to $33.44 after the company announced fourth-quarter results.
  • Velo3D Inc (NASDAQ:VELO) was down, falling 22% to $10.58 after the company reported quarterly financial results. Also, the company announced the appointment of James Suva as CFO.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.1% to $90.39 while gold traded up 3.2% at $4,545.90.

Silver traded up 4.3% to $72.535 on Wednesday, while copper rose 1.8% to $5.5530.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.42%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.54%. London's FTSE 100 rose 1.42%, Germany's DAX gained 1.41% and France's CAC 40 rose 1.33% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 2.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gaining 1.09%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.30% and India's BSE Sensex surging 1.63%.

Economics

  • U.S. crude inventories jumped by 6.926 million barrels to 456.2 million barrels in the week ended March 20, versus market estimates of a 0.5 million-barrel gain.
  • The U.S. current account deficit shrank to $190.7 billion in the fourth quarter from $239.1 billion in the prior period.
  • U.S. mortgage applications fell by 10.5% from the previous week in the week ending March 20, following a 10.9% decline in the previous week.

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