U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 300 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.68% to 49,482.63 while the NASDAQ rose 1.25% to 24,563.33. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.81% to 7,120.98.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate stocks rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)announced upbeat financial results for its fiscal first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday.

The telecom giant reported operating revenues of $31.51 billion, a 2.9% increase from the same period last year, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $31.25 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) stood at 57 cents, topping the analyst consensus estimate of 55 cents.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Axe Compute Inc (NASDAQ:AGPU) shares shot up 89% to $9.21 after the company announced it signed a 36-month enterprise infrastructure contract to will deliver dedicated GPU compute and AI-focused high-speed storage infrastructure from a single U.S. Tier 3 data center facility.
  • Shares of Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) got a boost, surging 15% to $284.12 after the company issued second-quarter sales guidance above estimates. Also, the company issued FY26 sales guidance above estimates.
  • Healthcare Services Group Inc (NASDAQ:HCSG) shares were also up, gaining 20% to $23.16 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Calix Inc (NYSE:CALX) shares dropped 15% to $42.11 following first-quarter results.
  • Shares of La Rosa Holdings (NASDAQ:LRHC) were down 20% to $2.56 after receiving non-compliance notification from Nasdaq.
  • AIOS Tech Inc (NASDAQ:AIOS) was down, falling 19% to $0.45 after the company announced a 20-for-1 reverse split.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.7% to $93.02 while gold traded up 1.2% at $4,777.70.

Silver traded up 2.3% to $78.280 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.8% to $6.0605.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.2%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4%. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2% and France’s CAC 40 declined 0.4% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.40%, China’s Shanghai Composite climbing 0.52%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipping 1.22% and India’s BSE Sensex dropping 0.95%.

Economics

  • U.S. mortgage applications surged 7.8% from the previous week in the week ending April 17, following a 1.8% gain from the prior period.
  • U.S. crude inventories surged by 1.925 million barrels to 465.7 million barrels in the week ended April 17, versus market estimates of a 1.2 million barrel draw.

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