U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.60% to 46,402.31 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 21,899.66. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.49% to 6,588.77.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed by 2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy stocks fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

Cintas Corp (NASDAQ:CTAS) posted better-than-expected third-quarter profit and raised its full-year forecast.

The company reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.24, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.23. Quarterly sales of $2.84 billion, up 8.9% year over year, beat the Street view of $2.821 billion.

The company raised FY2026 sales outlook from $11.150 billion-$11.220 billion to $11.210 billion-$11.240 billion versus street view of $11.205 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) shares shot up 30% to $22.90 after the company announced that early results from Phase 1/2 studies of SRP-1001 for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 and SRP-1003 for myotonic dystrophy type 1. Also, the company generated proof-of-concept data for SRP-1001 and SRP-1003.
  • Shares of Braze Inc (NASDAQ:BRZE) got a boost, surging 21% to $21.72 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales results and issued FY27 sales guidance above estimates. Also, the company announced a $100 million share buyback.
  • Arm Holdings PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ARM) shares were also up, gaining 18% to $159.00 after the company announced that it expects its new AGI CPU to generate approximately $15 billion in annual revenue in five years.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:AVXL) shares dropped 35% to $2.74 after the company announced that it withdrew its application for European Medicines Agency marketing authorization of blarcamesine in the EU as an add-on therapy for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease in adults.
  • Shares of Maze Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MAZE) were down 33% to $32.75 after the company announced fourth-quarter results.
  • Velo3D Inc (NASDAQ:VELO) was down, falling 22% to $10.60 after the company reported quarterly financial results. Also, the company announced the appointment of James Suva as CFO.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7% to $90.74 while gold traded up 3.4% at $4,551.10.

Silver traded up 4.3% to $72.555 on Wednesday, while copper rose 2% to $5.56.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.42%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.54%. London's FTSE 100 rose 1.42%, Germany's DAX gained 1.41% and France's CAC 40 rose 1.33% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 2.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gaining 1.09%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.30% and India's BSE Sensex surging 1.63%.

Economics

  • U.S. crude inventories jumped by 6.926 million barrels to 456.2 million barrels in the week ended March 20, versus market estimates of a 0.5 million-barrel gain.
  • The U.S. current account deficit shrank to $190.7 billion in the fourth quarter from $239.1 billion in the prior period.
  • U.S. mortgage applications fell by 10.5% from the previous week in the week ending March 20, following a 10.9% decline in the previous week.

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