U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining over 350 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.85% to 42,436.26 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 18,244.57. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.47% to 5,778.11.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares jumped by 0.8% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 5.810 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 4, compared to market expectations of a 2 million gain.

Equities Trading UP

Momentus Inc. ( MNTS ) shares shot up 125% to $0.9352 after the company announced a NASA contract to provide launch services for future agency missions.

Shares of Banzai International, Inc. ( BNZI ) got a boost, surging 65% to $4.5701 after the company announced strategic business initiatives to improve net income.

Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. ( IKT ) shares were also up, gaining 17% to $1.3894 after the company announced the pricing of an approximately $110 million private placement financing.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sacks Parente Golf, Inc. ( SPGC ) shares dropped 52% to $1.75 after gaining 35% after the company announced a $732K public offering of 366,000 shares of common stock for general corporate and working capital needs.

Shares of Verb Technology Company, Inc. ( VERB ) were down 18% to $7.00.

Alternus Clean Energy Inc ( ALCE ) was down, falling 28% to $0.1032 after the company announced a 1-for-25 reverse stock split as part of its Nasdaq compliance plan.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $73.38 while gold traded down 0.2% at $2,629.00.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $30.745 on Wednesday, while copper fell 1.1% to $4.4080.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.66%, Germany's DAX gained 0.99% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.52%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.06%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.65%.

Germany’s trade surplus increased to EUR 22.5 billion in August versus a revised EUR 16.9 billion in the prior month, topping market estimates of EUR 18.4 billion.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipping 1.38%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 6.62% and India's BSE Sensex dipping 0.21%.

Japan's machine tool orders declined 6.5% year-over-year to JPY 125,297 million in September compared to a 3.5% decline in the prior month, while the Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers climbed to +7 in October versus +4 in September. The Reserve Bank of India maintained its benchmark policy repo rate at 6.5% during October meeting.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 5.1% from the previous week during the first week of October, compared to a 1.3% drop in the prior week.

U.S. wholesale inventories increased by 0.1% month-over-month to $904.8 billion in August, compared to the preliminary estimate of a 0.2% gain and versus a revised 0.2% rise in the previous month.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 5.810 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 4,compared to market expectations of a 2 million gain.

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