U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 100 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.22% to 48,642.84 while the NASDAQ rose 0.37% to 23,726.69. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.28% to 6,986.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed by 0.8% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, materials stocks fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter on Wednesday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.11 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.00 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $30.272 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $29.931 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Allbirds Inc (NASDAQ:BIRD) shares shot up 323% to $10.54 after the company announced the execution of a definitive agreement with an institutional investor for a $50 million convertible financing facility. The company will pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure and change its name to “NewBird AI.”
  • Shares of Immutep Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:IMMP) got a boost, surging 166% to $0.84 after the FDA granted the company Orphan Drug Designation for for eftilagimod alfa for the treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcoma.
  • VisionSys AI Inc (NASDAQ:VSA) shares were also up, gaining 57% to $0.94.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Cheetah Net Supply Chain Service Inc (NASDAQ:CTNT) shares dropped 71% to $0.49.
  • Shares of Snail Inc (NASDAQ:SNAL) were down 47% to $0.90.
  • Mint Incorporation Ltd (NASDAQ:MIMI) was down, falling 40% to $0.32.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $91.64 while gold traded down 0.3% at $4,835.60.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $79.28 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.1% to $6.0880.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.2%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.6%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%, Germany's DAX gained 0.1% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.6% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 surging 0.44%, China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.29% and India's BSE Sensex surging 1.64%.

Economics

  • U.S. import prices rose by 0.8% month-over-month in March compared to a revised 0.9% gain in February.
  • U.S. export prices increased by 1.6% month-over-month in March following a revised 1.9% gain in February.
  • The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index surged to 11 in April, recording the highest reading in five months, up from -0.2 in the previous month and beating market estimates of -0.5.
  • U.S. mortgage applications rose 1.8% in the week ended April 10, compared to a 0.8% decline in the prior period.

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