U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 1% on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.21% to 44,117.15 while the NASDAQ rose 0.98% to 19,949.80. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.50% to 6,079.24.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsCommunication services shares surged by 1.7% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results on Tuesday.

Netflix reported fourth-quarter revenue of $10.25 billion, up 16% year-over-year. The revenue total beat a Street consensus estimate of $10.11 billion according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company reported earnings per share of $4.27 for the quarter, beating a Street consensus estimate of $4.19.

Netflix reported it added 18.91 million paid subscribers in the fiscal quarter, up 15.9% year-over-year.

Equities Trading UP                       

• Blackboxstocks Inc. (NASDAQ:BLBX) shares shot up 70% to $2.87 after the company announced a $250K securities purchase agreement and is anticipating a potential merger.
• Shares of Asset Entities Inc. (NASDAQ:ASST)got a boost, surging 71% to $1.5397.
• ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. (NASDAQ:IPA) shares were also up, gaining 58% to $0.7811 after the company announced it developed a new class of GLP-1 therapies using its LENS platform.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Star Fashion Culture Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:STFS) shares dropped 85% to $1.98.
• Shares of Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPA) were down 58% to $0.1352 after the company announced a $9 million public offering.
• Lisata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTA) was down, falling 28% to $2.80 after the company announced preliminary cohort data from its Phase 2 Ascend trial.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $75.69 while gold traded up 0.2% at $2,764.20.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $31.405 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.6% to $4.3145.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 surged 0.7%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 1.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.1%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%, while London's FTSE 100 gained 0.2%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.58%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.89%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 1.63% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.75%.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications rose 0.1% from the previous week in the week ending Jan. 17.

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