U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 1% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.50% to 39,488.59 while the NASDAQ rose 1.01% to 18,615.28. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.70% to 5,616.11.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 1.2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, financials shares fell by 0.1%.

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 ( VRPX ). shares shot up 87% to $2.1718 after the company announced results for a Swine Model pilot study for Probudur.

Shares of Longeveron Inc. ( LGVN ) got a boost, surging 56% to $4.4650 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 ( KZIA ) shares were also up, gaining 264% to $0.7011 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 ( ALAR ). shares dropped 20% to $35.68 after the company announced estimated guidance for the first half of 2024.

Shares of SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation ( ICU ) were down 32% to $8.78 after the company entered into a $10 million registered direct offering of 947,868 shares at $10.55 per share.

LegalZoom.com, Inc ( LZ ). was down, falling 25% to $5.88 after the company announced a CEO transition and lowered its full year guidance.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $82.02 while gold traded up 0.7% at $2,383.40.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $31.105 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.5% to $4.6020.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.91%, Germany's DAX gained 0.94% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.86%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.59%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.66%.

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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