U.S. factory orders rise 0.9% in July, topping estimates

U.S. stocks were higher midway through Wednesday trading, with the Dow Jones up more than 300 points. The Dow rose 0.58% to 53,072.12, the Nasdaq added 0.54% to 26,239.57 and the S&P 500 gained 0.62% to 7,679.07. Materials shares climbed 1.7% on Wednesday, while real estate stocks slipped 1%.

U.S. factory orders increased 0.9% month over month in July, versus estimates for a 0.7% rise. Linkhome Holdings shares jumped 41% to $1.16 after the company said its formed subsidiary, Linkhome Technologies, began a preliminary evaluation of a proposed AI computing infrastructure project in Europe that could deploy up to 144 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. Purple Biotech ADR gained 39% to $2.32 after the company said the U.S.

PTO issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent application covering tri-specific antibody constructs and methods of use. GitLab shares rose 14% to $51.42 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results. Tscan Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: TCRX) fell 31% to $0.46 after saying it paused further enrollment in the Phase 3 ALLOHA-2 study of TSC-101 because it has insufficient capital to complete the trial. The company also said it will reduce its workforce by 75%.

CDT Equity Inc (NASDAQ: CDT) dropped 21% to $1.17 after it disclosed two Form 8-K filings covering a recent share issuance, Nasdaq listing status and changes in executive leadership. Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ: CRDO) fell 18% to $169.10 after reporting first-quarter financial results. In commodities, oil rose 0.5% to $90.69 and gold gained 0.5% to $4,419.80. Silver was up 0.8% at $65.890 and copper rose 0.5% to $6.6310.

European shares were lower, with the STOXX 600 down 0.3%, Spain's IBEX 35 Index off 0.1%, London's FTSE 100 down 0.3%, Germany's DAX lower by 0.5% and France's CAC 40 down 0.2%. Asian markets closed lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 2.85%. Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.07%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.97% and India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.02%. In U.S.

data, private businesses added 38,000 jobs in August, versus a revised 46,000 gain in July and below market estimates of 47,000. Mortgage applications rose 0.8% in the last week of August. U.S. factory orders increased 0.9% month-over-month in July, compared with market estimates for a 0.7% gain.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell 4.45 million barrels in the last week of August, after a 0.095 million-barrel increase in the previous period and against market estimates for a 1.1 million-barrel draw.