U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 1% on Wednesday.The Dow traded up 1% to 49,856.91 while the NASDAQ gained 1.27% to 26,199.40. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.87% to 7,417.31.Leading and Lagging SectorsInformation technology shares jumped by 0.8% on Wednesday.In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples stocks fell by 1.4%.Top HeadlineLowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) posted upbeat first-quarter earnings and revenue.The home improvement retailer reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $3.03, beating analyst estimates of $2.97, while revenue of $23.1 billion topped estimates of $22.98 billion.Equities Trading UP Equities Trading DOWNCommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 5.1% to $98.84 while gold traded down 0.5% at $4,490.50.Silver traded up 0.1% to $75.160 on Wednesday, while copper rose 1.1% to $6.2750.Euro zoneEuropean shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.5%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5%. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.4%, Germany's DAX rose 0.6%, while France's CAC 40 rose 0.9%.Asia Pacific MarketsAsian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.23%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.57%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.18% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.16%Economics