U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 50 points on Wednesday. The U.S. federal government officially entered a shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, after Congress failed to reach an agreement on a spending plan.

The Dow traded up 0.03% to 46,413.22 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 22,737.37. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.21% to 6,702.84.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares jumped by 1.9% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services stocks fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

RPM International Inc. (NYSE:RPM) reported better-than-expected sales for its fiscal 2026 first quarter.

The company posted quarterly sales of $2.11 billion, up 7.4% from $1.97 billion a year earlier and above the $2.057 billion estimate. Net income attributable to stockholders was $227.6 million, with diluted EPS flat at $1.77. Adjusted diluted EPS was $1.88, up 2.2% from $1.84 and in line with expectations.

Equities Trading UP
           

Chijet Motor Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:CJET) shares shot up 142% to $0.3918 after the company entered into an MOU with institutional investors for an expanded private placement offering of up to $1 billion.

Shares of Ryvyl Inc. (NASDAQ:RVYL) got a boost, surging 64% to $0.4868 after the company announced a $75 million merger agreement with RTB Digital.

Healthcare Triangle, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCTI) shares were also up, gaining 19% to $3.1200. Healthcare Triangle’s QuantumNexis EMR platform surpassed $20 million in processed revenue.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cheer Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHR) shares dropped 68% to $0.2201 after the company announced the pricing of its $8.5 million offering of approximately 12.69 million units at $0.67 per unit.

Shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) were down 10% to $87.74. Axcelis Technologies and Veeco Instruments entered into an all-stock combination.

Clean Energy Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:CETY) was down, falling 27% to $0.2066. Clean Energy Technology announced a 1-for-15 reverse stock split.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4% to $61.51 while gold traded up 0.7% at $3,900.10.

Silver traded up 2.4% to $47.740 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.2% to $4.8455.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.94%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.50%. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.82%, Germany’s DAX 40 gained 0.72% and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.85% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.85% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.89%.

Economics

U.S. private businesses cut 32,000 jobs in September compared to a revised loss of 3,000 in the previous month, and compared to market estimates of a 50,000 gain.

The volume of mortgage applications in the U.S. declined by 12.7% in the week ending Sept. 26.

U.S. crude oil inventories surged by 1.792 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 26, compared to market expectations of 1.5-million gain.

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