Crude Oil Edges Higher; US Retail Sales Top Estimates

by | Jun 17, 2026 | General

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

The Dow traded up 0.39% to 52,201.98 while the NASDAQ rose 0.09% to 26,401.25. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.11% to 7,519.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares jumped by 0.9% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services stocks fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% month-over-month in May, following a revised 0.4% gain in April and topping market estimates of 0.5%.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE) shares shot up 77% to $47.64 after the company announced the FDA found the 3-year analysis from the Phase I/II study acceptable as a primary basis for a BLA submission for the accelerated approval of AMT-130 in Huntington’s Disease.
  • Shares of Icecure Medical Ltd (NASDAQ:ICCM) got a boost, surging 261% to $7.70 after the company announced a 70% increase in its U.S. active commercial install base of ProSense for breast cancer cryoablation.
  • Braiin Ltd (NASDAQ:BRAI) shares were also up, gaining 35% to $10.08 after the company announced a partnership with BillCentral to deploy its Agentic AI-powered customer experience and call center platform across enterprise platforms.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Liberty Latin America Ltd (NASDAQ:LILA) shares dropped 32% to $5.32.
  • Shares of SL Science Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:SLBT) were down 28% to $6.38 after surging 167% on Tuesday.
  • Aditxt Inc (NASDAQ:ADTX) was down, falling 36% to $0.0070 after a new SEC Form 4 filing showed major shareholder HRT Financial LP purchased millions of shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $76.62 while gold traded up 0.1% at $4,360.40.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $70.410 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.4% to $6.4785.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.9%. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2%, while France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.72%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.74%, China’s Shanghai Composite rising 0.40% and India’s BSE Sensex climbing 0.45%.

Economics

  • U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% month-over-month in May, following a revised 0.4% gain in April and topping market estimates of 0.5%.
  • U.S. mortgage applications declined by 3.8% in the second week of June, compared to a 10.8% gain in the prior period.
  • U.S. pending home sales jumped 3.8% month-over-month in May compared to a revised 0.3% gain in the previous month and topping market estimates of 0.8%.
  • U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 8.262 million barrels to 418.2 million barrels in the week ended June 12, compared to market estimates of a 4.6 million-barrel draw.

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