U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 150 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.30% to 44,838.93 while the NASDAQ rose 0.80% to 19,637.25. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.23% to 6,063.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Information technology shares jumped by 1.1% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.9%.

Top Headline

The ISM services PMI fell to 52.1 in November compared to 56 in October and down from market estimates of 55.5.

Equities Trading UP

• Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) shares shot up 62% to $18.14 after Aya Healthcare announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company for approximately $615 million.
• Shares of CN Energy Group. Inc. (NASDAQ:CNEY) got a boost, surging 102% to $0.6384 after the company announced it has been granted a 180-day extension by Nasdaq to regain compliance with its $1.00 minimum bid price requirement.
• SRM Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRM) shares were also up, gaining 89% to $1.19 after the company announced its online sales on Amazon grew 417% since September.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Relmada Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLMD) shares dropped 77% to $0.6438 after the company announced its Reliance II Phase 3 study indicated results were futile and unlikely to meet the primary efficacy endpoint with statistical significance.
• Shares of Torrid Holdings Inc (NYSE:CURV) were down 31% to $3.18 after the company reported worse-then-expected third-quarter financial results and issued FY24 revenue guidance below estimates.
• PSQ Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PSQH) was down, falling 36% to $4.9005 after the company announced a $36.2 million registered direct offering of common stock.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $69.88 while gold traded up 0.2% at $2,673.60.

Silver traded up 0.9% to $31.780 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.1% to $4.2045.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.32%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.96% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.53%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.76%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.27%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.07%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.02%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.42% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.14%.

Economics

• U.S. private businesses added 146K workers to their payrolls for the month of November compared to a revised 184K gain in October, and versus market estimates of 150K.
• The S&P Global services PMI was revised downward to 56.1 in November versus a preliminary reading of 57, and compared to October's reading of 55.
• U.S. factory orders rose by 0.2% from the previous month to $586.7 billion in October.
• The ISM services PMI fell to 52.1 in November compared to 56 in October and down from market estimates of 55.5.

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