The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 28,261,610 cases with around 502,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 11,030,170 confirmed cases and 156,560 deaths, while Brazil reported over 10,257,870 COVID-19 cases with 248,520 deaths. In total, there were at least 112,184,230 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,487,150 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares rose 3.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SM Energy Company SM 18.06%, up 16%, and Ring Energy, Inc. REI 26.7%, up 25%.
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 0.7%.
Top Headline
Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW 3.51% reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
Lowe's reported quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.19 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $20.30 billion, versus expectations of $19.24 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. NVOS 113.6% shares shot up 154% to $9.55 after the company stock was uplisted to the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Shares of Sypris Solutions, Inc. SYPR 85.78% got a boost, shooting 90% to $5.06 after the company announced it has won a defense contract award for electronic modules for precision-guided anti-ship missile system.
Owens & Minor, Inc. OMI 31.89% shares were also up, gaining 36% to $34.52 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4results and issued strong FY21 earnings forecast.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNST 20.93% shares tumbled 17% to $30.02 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 earnings.
Shares of Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK 14.56% were down 15% to $75.06 following downbeat quarterly earnings.
Systemax Inc. SYX 13.74% was down, falling 15% to $37.73 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3% to $63.11, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,798.70.
Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $27.845 while copper rose 3.2% to $4.3135.
Euro zone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.46%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.21% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.8%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.31%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.69%.
French manufacturing climate indicator climbed to 97 in February from a revised reading of 96 in January, while German economy grew 0.3% on quarter during the final three months of 2020.
Economics
US new home sales increased 4.3% to an annual rate of 923,000 in January.
US crude-oil inventories rose 1.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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