Dow Dips Over 300 Points; US Inflation Increases More Than Expected

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling over 300 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.79% to 44,240.00 while the NASDAQ fell 0.47% to 19,551.48. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.61% to 6,031.34.

Check This Out: Wall Street’s Most Accurate Analysts Spotlight On 3 Utilities Stocks Delivering High-Dividend Yields

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares fell by just 0.1% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares dipped by 1.4%.

Top Headline

The headline Consumer Price Index rose to 3% year-over-year in data released Wednesday, up 0.1 percentage points compared to December and above median economist forecasts of 2.9%, as tracked by TradingEconomics. On a monthly basis, inflation grew by 0.5%, sharply outpacing expectations of 0.3% and accelerating from December’s 0.4% gain.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Tivic Health Systems, Inc. TIVC shares shot up 111% to $0.4980 after the company announced it acquired the exclusive license rights from Statera Biopharma for its Phase III TLR5 agonist entolimod treatment of acute radiation syndrome.
• Shares of Xilio Therapeutics, Inc. XLOgot a boost, surging 104% to $1.3380 after the company announced an option-to-license collaboration agreement with AbbVie to develop novel tumor-activated antibody-based immunotherapies.
• Kindly MD, Inc. KDLY shares were also up, gaining 62% to $2.3150.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Spire Global, Inc. SPIR shares dropped 49% to $10.06 after the company filed a complaint against Kpler Holding, alleging Kpler failed to close on the acquisition of Spire’s maritime business. The company said given the expected delay, it intends to seek additional equity or debt financing.
• Shares of Atomera Incorporated ATOM were down 41% to $5.13 following a fourth-quarter EPS miss and a year-over-year decline in sales results.
• Similarweb Ltd. SMWB was down, falling 33% to $11.23 after the company missed quarterly earnings estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $72.20 while gold traded down 0.5% at $2,919.30.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $32.475 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.6305.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, Germany’s DAX 40 rose 0.2% and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.2%. Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.9%, while London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.42%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.85%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumping 2.64% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.16%.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage applications increased by 2.3% from the previous week during the first week of February, following a 2.2% rise from the earlier week.
• The headline Consumer Price Index rose to 3% year-over-year in data released Wednesday, up 0.1 percentage points compared to December and above median economist forecasts of 2.9%, as tracked by TradingEconomics.

Now Read This: