Crude Oil Edges Lower; Abbott Laboratories Posts Weak Sales

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 250 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.27% to 44,146.86 while the NASDAQ rose 1.29% to 20,010.85. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.70% to 6,091.74.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares surged by 2.5% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) reported fourth-quarter sales of $10.97 billion, up 7.2% year over year, missing the consensus of $11.01 billion.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.34, in line with the analyst estimates and management consensus of $1.31-$1.37, up from $1.19 a year ago.

Abbott projects full-year 2025 adjusted EPS of $5.05-$5.25 versus a consensus of $5.16, with organic sales growth of 7.5%- 8.5% and an adjusted operating margin of 23.5%- 24.0%. Abbott Laboratories expects first quarter 2025 adjusted EPS of $1.05-$1.09 versus consensus of $1.11.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Blackboxstocks Inc. (NASDAQ:BLBX) shares shot up 101% to $3.39 after the company announced a $250K securities purchase agreement and is anticipating a potential merger.
• Shares of Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI)got a boost, surging 26% to $4.0450 after Needham initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $9 price target.
• ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. (NASDAQ:IPA) shares were also up, gaining 30% to $0.6396 after the company announced it developed a new class of GLP-1 therapies using its LENS platform.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Agilysys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGYS) shares dropped 21% to $100.00 after the company reported worse-than-expected third-quarter sales results and issued FY25 revenue guidance below estimates.
• Shares of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPA) were down 61% to $0.1265 after the company announced a $9 million public offering.
• Lisata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTA) was down, falling 30% to $2.72 after the company announced preliminary cohort data from its Phase 2 Ascend trial.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $75.55 while gold traded up 0.4% at $2,770.40.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $31.33 on Wednesday, while copper fell 1% to $4.2985.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 surged 0.39%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 1.01% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.86%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.37%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.04%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.58%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.89%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 1.63% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.75%.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications rose 0.1% from the previous week in the week ending Jan. 17.

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