Nasdaq Rises Over 1%; CommVault Systems Shares Plummet

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.60% to 33,906.23 while the NASDAQ rose 1.25% to 10,876.84. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.94% to 3,955.92.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares gained by 3.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included WeWork Inc. (NYSE: WE), up 21%, and Opendoor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPEN), up 10%.

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

Top Headline

Stocks of crude oil in the US climbed by 18.962 million barrels in the week ended January 6, the EIA said.

Equities Trading UP

• Broadwind Inc (NASDAQ: BWEN) shares shot up 101% to $4.55 after the company announced the receipt of approximately $175 million in new tower orders from a leading global wind turbine manufacturer.
• Shares of Laser Photonics Corp (NASDAQ: LASE) got a boost, shooting 33% to $3.37 after the company announced the board of directors authorized a 2 million share stock repurchase program.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) shares were also up, gaining 54% to $3.20 after adding more than 27% during regular market hours on Tuesday. According to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Bed Bath & Beyond has brought on consulting firm AlixPartners as its new restructuring advisor. The company reported a quarterly adjusted net loss of $3.65 per share, which missed estimates for a loss of $2.11 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

• CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) shares tumbled 14% to $55.84 after the company issued Q3 guidance below estimates. Piper Sandler cut its price target on the stock from $70 to $60.
• Shares of American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVCT) were down 16% to $1.19 after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) was down, falling 11% to $49.74 after the company issued FY23 adjusted EPS and revenue guidance below estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.3% to $77.63 while gold traded up 0.3% at $1,881.90.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $23.57 on Wednesday while copper rose 2.5% to $4.18.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.38%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.40% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.16%. The German DAX climbed 1.17%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.80% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.72%.

Retail sales in Italy increased by 0.8% from a month ago in November versus a revised 0.3% decline in the prior month. Industrial production in Spain fell by 1.1% year-over-year in November.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.49%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.24%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.03%.

The index of coincident economic indicators in Japan dropped to 99.1 in November from 99.6 in October, while index of leading economic indicators fell to 97.6 in November from a final reading of 98.6 in October. Retail sales in Australia rose by 1.4% month-over-month to AUD 35.92 billion during November, while monthly Consumer Price Index indicator rose by 7.3% in the year to November.

Economics

• Mortgage applications in the US rose 1.2% in the first week of January.
• Stocks of crude oil in the US climbed by 18.962 million barrels in the week ended January 6, the EIA said.

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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 103,151,840 cases with around 1,121,720 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,681,520 cases and 530,720 deaths, while France reported over 39,421,140 COVID-19 cases with 163,100 deaths. In total, there were at least 669,583,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,718,320 deaths.