US stocks edged higher as the first quarter of the year came to a close, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite leading gains, rising 1.2% at opening. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose at the opening bell, advancing 0.9% and 0.7% respectively.
Q1 Performance
As Q1 ends, Nasdaq is up nearly 12%. The S&P 500 remains up over 3% so far this year, whilst the Dow Jones has lagged, falling by 2.2%.
Crude Oil Prices
The price of crude oil also gained early Wednesday, with crude oil WTI futures increasing by 1.3% to $74.16 per barrel and Brent Oil futures up by 0.7% to $78.75 per barrel.
Crypto Market
Bitcoin had a notable increase of over 5%, trading north of $28,000 as the cryptocurrency market shows signs of thawing out after a long crypto winter. This marks an increase of more than 70% this year.
Micron Technology
Micron Technology reported that it could be closer to sequential revenue growth in quarterly results, buoyed by recent investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence (AI) advances that may have a positive impact on the industry.
Lululemon Athletica Inc.
Lululemon shares were up as much as 12% on Wednesday after reporting better than expected results with revenue rising by a staggering 30% in Q4 as comparable store sales rose by an impressive 27%.
Meanwhile, UBS Group AG’s shares rose by over 3.7%, with Sergio Ermotti returning as CEO after the acquisition of Credit Suisse.
Banking Sector
The deal between First Citizens BancShares Inc. and Silicon Valley Bank abated fears of the banking sector’s collapse. Bank regulators are set to appear before Congress to discuss the collapse of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, with Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michael Barr describing Silicon Valley Bank as a “textbook case of mismanagement”.
Futures traders remain divided on whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates by another quarter of a percentage point in May, or keep them steady. Pending home sales rose by 0.8% in February, stronger than expected even as mortgage rates continued to climb.
As Q1 comes to an end with US stocks showing a mixed performance, investors await hopeful news about economic recovery in 2021.
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