U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining over 1.5% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 1.05% to 49,813.85 while the NASDAQ rose 1.61% to 25,733.21. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.13% to 7,341.32.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares jumped by 2.4% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy stocks fell by 4.2%.

Top Headline

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter.

The company posted quarterly earnings of 58 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 50 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $6.047 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $5.885 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 7.1% to $94.99 while gold traded up 3.3% at $4,717.90.

Silver traded up 6% to $78.015 on Wednesday, while copper rose 3.3% to $6.1910.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 2.3%. London’s FTSE 100 rose 2.2%, Germany’s DAX gained 2.1%, while France’s CAC 40 gained 3%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.22% and India’s BSE Sensex jumping 1.22%

Economics

Private businesses added a net 109,000 jobs in April, recording the largest gain since January 2025.

U.S. mortgage applications fell by 4.4% from the previous week in the final week of April.

U.S. crude inventories declined by 2.314 million barrels to 457.2 million barrels in the week ended May 1, versus market estimates of a 3.3 million barrel draw.

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