U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 50 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.10% to 39,329.75 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 18,491.35. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 5,590.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Materials shares jumped by 0.7% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

The EIA said U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 3.444 million barrels in the week ended July 5, compared to market estimates of a 3.0 million decline.

Equities Trading UP

• Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRPX) shares shot up 87% to $2.17 after the company announced results for a Swine Model pilot study for Probudur.
• Shares of Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ:LGVN) got a boost, surging 51% to $4.3350 after the company announced that the FDA granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation to Lomecel-B for the treatment of mild Alzheimer's Disease.
• Kazia Therapeutics Limited (NASDAQ:KZIA) shares were also up, gaining 340% to $0.8431 after the company announced results from GBM-AGILE, a phase II/III study that included an evaluation of paxalisib versus standard of care for patients with glioblastoma.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Alarum Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:ALAR) shares dropped 24% to $34.01 after the company announced estimated guidance for the first half of 2024.
• Shares of SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ICU) were down 33% to $8.77 after the company entered into a $10 million registered direct offering of 947,868 shares at $10.55 per share.
• LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) was down, falling 27% to $5.76 after the company announced a CEO transition and lowered its full year guidance.

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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $82.57 while gold traded up 0.6% at $2,382.80.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $31.15 on Wednesday, while copper rose 1.2% to $4.6305.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.82%, Germany's DAX gained 0.83% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.86%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.32%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.58%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.61%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declining 0.29%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dipping 0.68% and India's S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.53%.

Japanese machine tool orders climbed by 9.7% year-over-year to JPY 133,817 million in June compared to a 4.2% rise in the prior month.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell by 0.2% during the first week of July.
• U.S. wholesale inventories increased by 0.6% month-over-month in May compared to a 0.2% gain in the previous month.
• The EIA said U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 3.444 million barrels in the week ended July 5, compared to market estimates of a 3.0 million decline.

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