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

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.35% to 42,226.68 while the NASDAQ fell 0.20% to 18,146.90. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.03% to 5,752.58.

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Helen Of Troy Ltd HELE reported better-than-expected second-quarter results, reaffirming its FY25 sales and EPS outlook.

The company reported a second-quarter sales decline of 3.5% year-over-year to $474.221 million, beating the analyst consensus of $458.237 million. Adjusted EPS declined 34.1% YoY to $1.21, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04.

Equities Trading UP

Equities Trading DOWN

were down 43% to $0.5712. Alternus Clean Energy Inc ALCE was down, falling 37% to $0.0903 after the company announced a 1-for-25 reverse stock split as part of its Nasdaq compliance plan.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.2% to $71.97 while gold traded down 0.3% at $2,627.90.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $30.645 on Wednesday, while copper fell 1.6% to $4.3870.

Euro zone

Germany’s trade surplus increased to EUR 22.5 billion in August versus a revised EUR 16.9 billion in the prior month, topping market estimates of EUR 18.4 billion.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipping 1.38%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 6.62% and India's BSE Sensex dipping 0.21%.

Japan's machine tool orders declined 6.5% year-over-year to JPY 125,297 million in September compared to a 3.5% decline in the prior month, while the Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers climbed to +7 in October versus +4 in September. The Reserve Bank of India maintained its benchmark policy repo rate at 6.5% during October meeting.

Economics

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 5.1% from the previous week during the first week of October, compared to a 1.3% drop in the prior week.

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