Nasdaq Surges 150 Points; Lowe's Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 150 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.06% to 43,594.06 while the NASDAQ gained 0.87% to 19,192.72. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.46% to 5,983.30.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.4% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. LOW reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.93 above the street view of $1.84. Quarterly sales were $18.553 billion, a slight decline of 0.3% year over year, but they outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $18.292 billion.

Lowe’s said it sees 2025 EPS of $12.15–$12.40, below the $12.51 consensus estimate. Total sales are projected at $83.5 billion – $84.5 billion, compared to the $84.56 billion consensus.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Enveric Biosciences, Inc. ENVB shares shot up 108% to $2.4540 after the company announced its non-hallucinogenic psychedelic compounds showed promise for treating addiction and ADHD.
• Shares of Mullen Automotive, Inc. MULNgot a boost, surging 72% to $4.0685 after the company announced that its Mullen ONE and Mullen THREE vehicles have been added to National Auto Fleet Group’s Sourcewell contract for public sector government purchasing.
• Porch Group, Inc. PRCH shares were also up, gaining 65% to $6.25 after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Flywire Corporation FLYW shares dropped 41% to $10.48 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Venus Concept Inc. VERO were down 34% to $0.3540. Venus Concept recently announced several senior management changes.
• Geron Corporation GERN was down, falling 31% to $1.64 after the company posted quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $68.76 while gold traded up 0.4% at $2,929.50.

Silver traded up 1.4% to $32.28 on Wednesday, while copper rose 1.3% to $4.5875.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.99%, Germany’s DAX 40 gained 1.71% and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.15%. Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.64%, while London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.72%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei falling 0.25%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.02% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surging 3.27%.

Economics

• U.S. mortgage applications declined by 1.2% from the previous week during the week ending Feb. 21
• U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 2.332 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 21, compared to market estimates of a 2.54 million gain, the EIA said.
• Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. dipped 10.5% to an annualized rate of 657,000 in January.
• Building permits declined by 0.6% to an annualized rate of 1.473 million in January.

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