U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 20 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.05% to 42,762.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06% to 18,305.30. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.07% to 5,811.21.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financials shares jumped by 0.7% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

On Wednesday, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

The company posted sales of $10.64 billion, up 4.9% year over year, beating the consensus of $10.55 billion. Abbott's adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.21, beating the analyst estimates of $1.20.

Equities Trading UP

• 180 Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:ATNF) shares shot up 668% to $11.73. 180 Life Sciences interim CEO said that the company is planning to enter the online gaming industry with its newly acquired gaming technology platform.
• Shares of Santech Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:STEC) got a boost, surging 592% to $2.50.
• Versus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VS) shares were also up, gaining 422% to $5.90 after the company announced a $2.5 million investment and licensing agreement with ASPIS.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Bright Minds Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:DRUG) shares dropped 39% to $23.39. Firefly Neuroscience collaborated with Bright Minds Biosciences to analyze the data from its positive Phase 1 study using its Artificial Intelligence.
• Shares of Silvaco Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SVCO) were down 28% to $7.94 after the company reported a decline in orders from Asia during third quarter and cut its FY24 revenue outlook.
• Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ZPTA) was down, falling 26% to $0.09.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $70.53 while gold traded up 0.8% at $2,700.00.

Silver traded up 1.8% to $32.325 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.8% to $4.3725.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.2%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.2% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.5%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%, while London's FTSE 100 gained 0.9%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.83%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.16%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.05% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.39%.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage applications fell by 17% from the previous week during the second week of October.
• Export prices in the U.S. declined by 0.7% month-over-month in September, exceeding market estimates of a 0.4% fall.
• Import prices declined by 0.4% from the previous month in September.

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