Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 2%; EIA Reports Unexpected Rise In Crude Inventories

US stocks traded lower midway through trading on Wednesday ahead of the release of Fed minutes.

The Dow traded down 0.59% to 34,783.36 while the NASDAQ fell 0.92% to 14,009.57. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.52% to 4,447.84.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ: NEXT), up 9% and Crescent Energy Company (NYSE: CRGY) up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares tumbled by 1.2%.

Top Headline

US crude-oil inventories gained 1.121 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts, however, were expecting for a 1.769-million-barrel decline in inventories.

Equities Trading UP

Upstart Holdings, Inc.. (NASDAQ: UPST) shares shot up 36% to $148.09 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and issued sales guidance above estimates. The company also announced a $400 million buyback.

Shares of HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK) got a boost, shooting 56% to $2.09. Hookipa Pharma amended and restated collaboration and license agreement with Gilead Sciences for arenaviral immunotherapy as a component of a potential functional curative regimen for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Cellebrite DI Ltd. (NASDAQ: CLBT) shares were also up, gaining 17% to $8.22 after the company posted upbeat Q4 results and issued strong sales forecast

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Equities Trading DOWN

Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ: MASI) shares tumbled 33% to $153.15 after the company reported Q4 earnings results and announced an agreement to acquire Sound United.

Shares of Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX) were down 24% to $55.95 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was down, falling 25% to $87.29 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $94.10, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,863.40.

Silver traded up 0.7% Wednesday to $23.50 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.5345.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.21%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.31%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.14%. The German DAX dropped 0.39%, French CAC 40 fell 0.53% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.35%.

Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 5.5% in January from 5.4% in December, while headline rate of output prices in the country accelerated to 9.9% year-over-year in January.

Economics

US retail sales increased 3.8% from a month ago in January versus a revised 2.5% decline in December. Analysts, however, were expecting for a 2% growth in retail sales.

The price index for US imports increased 2% from a month ago in January, while prices for US exports rose 2.9% in January.

US industrial production rose 1.4% for January.

US business inventories rose 2.1% for December.

The housing market index fell to 82.00 in February from prior reading of 83.00.

US crude-oil inventories gained 1.1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Treasury is set to auction 20-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 79,639,930 cases with around 949,260 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,723,550 cases and 509,900 deaths, while Brazil reported over 27,664,950 COVID-19 cases with 639,820 deaths. In total, there were at least 416,438,640 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,858,920 deaths.