U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 100 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.28% to 48,576.79 while the NASDAQ rose 0.02% to 23,567.10. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.15% to 6,920.17.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsConsumer staples shares rose by 0.6% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services stocks fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 from the previous week to 214,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, compared to market estimates of 223,000.

Equities Trading UP           

• Sobr Safe Inc (NASDAQ:SOBR) shares shot up 116% to $2.81.
• Shares of Multi Ways Holdings Ltd (NYSE:MWG) got a boost, surging 84% to $0.46 after the company reported a year-over-year increase in H1 EPS results.
• Omeros Corp (NASDAQ:OMER) shares were also up, gaining 73% to $15.13 after the FDA approved YARTEMLEA to treat hematopoietic stem cell transplant–associated thrombotic microangiopathy.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Picocela Inc (NASDAQ:PCLA) shares dropped 33% to $0.24.
• Shares of Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CTXR) were down 31% to $0.72. Citius Pharmaceuticals reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter.
• Sonim Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SONM) was down, falling 22% to $3.87.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $58.58 while gold traded up 0.3% at $4,516.90.

Silver traded up 1.3% to $72.030 on Wednesday, while copper rose 1.5% to $5.6360.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1%. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 0.2% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.2% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.14%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 0.17%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.53% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.14%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 from the previous week to 214,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, compared to market estimates of 223,000.

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