U.S. stocks traded mostly lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 200 points on Wednesday.
The Dow traded down 0.03% to 31,825.65 while the NASDAQ fell 1.91% to 10,985.06. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.71% to 3,831.77.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 1.6% on Wednesday. Leading the sector was strength from Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) and Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE: HLX).
In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares dipped by 4.1%.
Top Headline
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.
Revenue for the Microsoft Cloud segment was $25.7 billion in the first quarter, up 24%% year-over-year.
The company’s stock dropped 6.3% to trade at $234.85 on Wednesday.
Equities Trading UP
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) shares shot up 19% to $162.95 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 sales results. Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU) got a boost, shooting 29% to $27.08 higher after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results. ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIX) shares were also up, gaining 151% to $4.3186 after the company highlighted updates results from the Phase 1/2 study of EPI-7386 with Enzalutamide At the 29th Annual Prostate Cancer Foundation Scientific Retreat.
Equities Trading DOWN Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) shares tumbled 30% to $32.67 following weak quarterly earnings. Shares of FedNat Holding Company (NASDAQ: FNHC) were down 41% to $0.3576 after the company announced a voluntary Nasdaq delisting. ThermoGenesis Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: THMO) was down, falling 47% to $0.12 after the company priced a public offering of 11,783,572 shares at $0.14 per share
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 3.2% to $88.03, while gold traded up 0.8% at $1,671.10
Silver traded up 1% to $19.54 on Wednesday while copper rose 4.3% to $3.5415.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.66%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.61% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.97%. The German DAX gained 1.09%, French CAC 40 rose 0.41% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.45%.
Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.4% year-over-year in September, while consumer confidence in France rose to 82 in October from 79 in September.
Economics
The trade gap on goods increased to a three-month high of $92.2 billion in September from a $87.3 billion deficit in the previous month. Wholesale inventories in the US increased by 0.8% month-over-month to $921.7 billion in September. Building permits rose 1.4% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.564 million in September. US new home sales fell to a 603,000 annual rate in September compared to a revised 677,000 a month ago. US crude oil inventories climbed by 2.558 million barrels in the week ended October 21st, versus market estimates of a 1.029-million-barrel rise, the Energy Information Administration said.
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 99,141,250 cases with around 1,093,330 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,645,760 cases and 528,980 deaths, while France reported over 36,666,380 COVID-19 cases with 156,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 633,889,150 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,586,230 deaths.
