U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 200 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.60% to 40,005.76 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 17,189.62. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 5,451.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financials shares climbed by 0.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Performance Food Group Company (NYSE:PFGC) shares gained 8% on Wednesday following the release of quarterly results.

The company reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.45 (+27.2%), beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.37. Quarterly sales of $15.189 billion missed the street view of $15.266 billion.

Equities Trading UP

• Avalon Globocare Corp (NASDAQ:ALBT) shares shot up 133% to $0.6122 after the company announced its Laboratory Services MSO, LLC has begun manufacturing the GeeWhiz external male catheter.
• Shares of Digital Ally Inc (NASDAQ:DGLY) got a boost, surging 64% to $1.3803 after the company was granted a U.S. Patent for tracking and analysis of drivers within a fleet of vehicles.
• Serve Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ:SERV) shares were also up, gaining 24% to $12.87 after the company announced a partnership with Shake Shack to deliver products using autonomous delivery robots through Uber Eats.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Ouster Inc (NYSE:OUST) shares dropped 26% to $8.10 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter sales results and issued third-quarter revenue guidance below estimates.
• Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRCA) were down 27% to $3.8000. On Wednesday, dermatology drug developer Verrica Pharmaceuticals released preliminary results from Part 2 of its Phase 2 trial of VP-315 for basal cell carcinoma.
• European Wax Center Inc (NASDAQ:EWCZ) was down, falling 25% to $5.23 after the company reported second quarter fiscal year 2024 results and named David Berg as Chief Executive Officer.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $78.16 while gold traded down 0.6% at $2,493.90.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $27.695 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.0760.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.27%, Germany's DAX rose 0.26% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.59%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.17%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.36%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 0.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.35%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.60% and S&P BSE Sensex rising 0.19%.

Economics

• Headline CPI inflation fell from 3% in June to 2.9% in July 2024 on a year-over-year basis, falling short of the consensus forecast of 3% tracked by TradingEconomics.
• On a monthly basis, inflation increased by 0.2% in July, rebounding from the previous month's contraction of 0.1% and matching estimates of 0.2%.

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