U.S. equities traded lower midway through Wednesday's session, led by a 1.10% decline in the Nasdaq Composite to 26,943.90. The Dow fell 0.52% to 51,588.15, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.66% to 7,713.83. Energy shares rose 0.9%, contrasting with a 1% decline in utilities. Cintas reported first-quarter earnings of $1.39 per share, above the $1.35 analyst consensus, and sales of $3.014 billion, exceeding the $2.984 billion estimate. The company also raised its FY2027 guidance. Beneficient shares surged 209% to $1.66 after the company announced a strategy to eliminate HCLP debt and Heppner Equity Interests. Lakefront Biotherapeutics NV ADR (American depositary receipt) shares rose 7% to $32.39 after RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams upgraded the stock from Sector Perform to Outperform and lifted the price target from $26 to $45. TriSalus Life Sciences gained 5% to $5.16 after receiving FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) 510(k) clearance for TriNav Advance. Alkami Technology fell 19% to $14.58 after concluding a strategic opportunities review, while Adagio Medical Holdings dropped 42% to $0.28 after its board completed a strategic review and began a formal process to explore alternatives to maximize shareholder value. IM Cannabis declined 29% to $2.95 after announcing a $1.31 million registered direct offering of 655,000 common shares at $2 each and plans to acquire a 51% stake in Space Defense Innovations. Oil rose 1.4% to $91.66, while gold fell 1.3% to $4,321.30, silver declined 2.2% to $65.070 and copper slipped 1.1% to $6.7600. European shares were mostly lower, with the STOXX 600 down 0.4%, Spain's IBEX 35 down 0.3%, Germany's DAX down 0.5% and France's CAC 40 down 0.4%; London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%. Asian markets closed mixed, as Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.01%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.39% and India's BSE Sensex gained 0.40%. Mortgage applications declined 1.5% in the third week of September, compared with a 4.1% drop in the previous period. U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.969 million barrels to 426.4 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 18, against market expectations for a 0.6 million-barrel draw.