U.S. stocks traded mostly higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.2% on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.04% to 44,131.06 while the NASDAQ gained 0.21% to 20,961.22. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.12% to 6,306.51.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsEnergy shares jumped by 0.8% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities stocks fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) posted better-than-expected second-quarter financial results.

McDonald’s reported quarterly earnings of $3.19 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $3.14 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $6.843 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $6.682 billion.

Equities Trading UP           

• Safe & Green Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SGBX) shares shot up 121% to $0.4271. The company recently announced it signed a letter of intent to acquire Rock Springs Energy.
• Shares of Ainos, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIMD) got a boost, surging 65% to $3.89 after the company announced it secured a three-year subscription.
• LivePerson, Inc. (NYSE:LPSN) shares were also up, gaining 44% to $1.2795 after the company announced it expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to integrate its AI capabilities directly into the LivePerson Connected Experience Platform.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Fractyl Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GUTS) shares dropped 49% to $0.9499 after the company announced a proposed public offering.
• Shares of LifeMD, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFMD) were down 41% to $6.99 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter EPS and sales and issued weak third-quarter sales guidance.
• Lantheus Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNTH) was down, falling 32% to $49.10 after the company lowered FY2025 adjusted EPS and sales guidance below estimates.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $66.27 while gold traded down 0.3% at $3,425.10.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $37.820 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.4140.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index gained 0.6%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.1% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.3% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.60%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 0.03%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.45% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.21%.

Economics

The volume of mortgage applications in the US increased by 3.1% from the previous week during the final week of July, compared to a 3.8% decline from the prior period.

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