Sentage Holdings Rises 14%

Shares of financial services company Sentage Holdings Inc. (SNTG) are rising 14 percent on Wednesday’s trading. The share movement is in line with the U.S stock market, which was in the green early on Wednesday morning.

There has not been any company-specific news to influence the stock.

Currently at $4.2641, the stock has traded between $2.2500- $24.7500 during the past 52 weeks.

Seagate Technology Slips 4% On Lowered Q1 Outlook

Shares of data storage company Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX) are down 4 percent on Wednesday’s trading after the company lowered its business outlook for the first quarter of 2023, against a worsening macro-economic backdrop.

Seagate now expects fiscal first quarter revenue of $2.1 billion (+/-$100 million), which compares to the company’s earlier guidance range of $2.5 billion (+/-$150 million). On average, 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post revenues of $2.52 billion for the first quarter.

Currently at $66.43, the stock has traded between $65.10 and $117.67 during the past 52 weeks.

Netflix Stock Gains 4% As It Hires Two Executives From Snap

Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) are currently gaining 4% on Wednesday morning after the video streaming giant announced hiring of two executives from Snapchat to lead its advertising sales team.

NFLX is currently trading at $229.47, up $8.82 or 4.00%, on the Nasdaq.

Netflix confirmed it hired Snap’s chief business officer, Jeremi Gorman, as its new president of worldwide advertising. It also tapped in Snap’s vice president of ad sales, Peter Naylor, in the same role at the streaming service.

The streaming giant is in the process of building an ad-supported version of the company’s streaming service, which is expected to launch next year.

U.S. Reports 96K New Covid Cases, 376 Deaths

With 96,270 new cases reported on Tuesday, the total number of people that have been infected with the coronavirus in the U.S. has risen to 94,403,074, as per Johns Hopkins University’s latest data.

376 additional deaths on the same day took the total U.S. Covid casualties to 1,044,915.

California reported the most number of cases – 27,353 – while Michigan reported the most deaths – 85 – due to the disease.

2,323 additional deaths were reported globally on Tuesday, taking the total number of people who lost their lives due to the pandemic so far to 6,491,762.

91,873,169 people have so far recovered from the disease, the Worldometer tally shows.

U.S. hospitals report a 10 percent decrease in the number of Covid patients. The number of I.C.U. admissions due to the worse stage of the viral disease has also fallen by 8 percent.

U.S. Covid hospitalizations fell to 37,770. More than 10 percent of these patients are admitted in intensive care units.

The nation’s current test positivity rate is 15 percent.

As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 223,684,995 Americans, or 67.4 percent of the eligible population, have been administered both doses of Covid vaccine so far. This includes 92 percent of people above 65.

48.4 percent of the eligible population, or 108,217,633 people, have already received a booster dose that is recommended to provide additional protection from the killer virus.

Crude Oil Sees Further Downside Following Yesterday’s Sharp Pullback

Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, the price of crude oil saw further downside during trading on Wednesday.

Oil prices regained some ground after an initial sell-off but once again came under pressure in the latter part of the session.

Crude for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel after plummeting $5.37 or 5.5 percent to $91.64 a barrel on Tuesday.

Concerns about the outlook for the global economy continued to weigh on oil prices following the release of disappointing Chinese data.

A report showing record high inflation in the Eurozone also led to worries aggressive monetary policy tightening by the European Central Bank could trigger a recession.

Oil prices recovered from their early lows after a report from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude oil inventories fell by more than expected in the week ended August 26th.

The report showed crude oil inventories slid by 3.3 million barrels versus expectations for a decrease of about 1.5 million barrels.

The EIA also said gasoline inventories declined by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories inched up by 0.1 million barrels.

Gold Prices Fall To Lowest Levels In Over A Month

Extending the downward trend seen over the past few sessions, the price of gold showed another move to the downside during trading on Wednesday.

After falling $13.40 or 0.8 percent to $1,736.30 an ounce on Tuesday, gold for December delivery slipped $10.10 or 0.6 percent to $1,726.20 an ounce.

With the continued decrease on the day, gold for December delivery dropped to its lowest levels in over a month.

The continued weakness among gold prices came even as the value of the U.S. dollar continued to show a lack of direction, with the U.S. dollar index edging down by less than a tenth of a percent.

Worries about higher interest rates continued to weigh on the price of gold following some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

In remarks earlier this morning, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said she expects the Fed to raise interest rates above 4 percent by early next year.

Mester also said she does not anticipate the Fed cutting interest rates in 2023, with the central bank likely to keep rates at an elevated level in an effort to combat inflation.

“Gold is struggling as inflationary pressures will keep all the major central banks with an aggressive inflation tightening stance,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. “Rising global bond yields is kryptonite for gold and that trend might last a little while longer.”

He added, “Eventually, we will see global recessionary concerns cap tightening cycles and that should be what is needed for gold bulls to return.”