U.S. stocks tick higher in hopes of a year-end rebound By Investing.com

By Daniel Shvartsman

Investing.com — U.S. stocks ticked up in early morning trade, helped by Hong Kong easing COVID restrictions, but looked set for a quiet day of holiday-week trading to close out their worst year since 2008.

At 09:35 ET (14:35 GMT), the traded 0.45% higher to 3847, while the rose 130 points or 0.4% to 33374. The ticked up 0.6%, coming off a more than 1% loss to start the week. The small cap index rose 0.6% in early trading as well.

Hong Kong announced it would end more of its COVID-related restrictions, fueling the general China reopening theme that emerged yesterday when Beijing made a similar announcement.

One of the stocks in the spotlight Wednesday was Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:), which came off a 11.4% drop on Tuesday. The electric vehicle manufacturer rose 5.3% in early trading as analysts rushed in to assess the situation, with Baird Tesla a best idea for 2023. Electric vehicle peer Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:) also rebounded, up 6.5% in early trading.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:) dipped 0.9% in early trading, as The Information reported that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:) was doubling down on Prime video and developing a stand-alone sports watching app. Amazon traded flat in early Wednesday action.

Other notable movers were SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:) and Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:), as the two solar energy companies continued their downward trajectory this week, down 3.4% and 2% respectively. Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:) dropped another 3% as reporting continued around its scheduling crisis after recent heavy weather in the U.S.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:) was neck and neck with Tesla to be the leading gainer on the S&P 500, up 5.3% as Janney tabbed the stock as a buy and Northland Securities called the power company a best idea for 2023.

The economic data slate Wednesday includes for November and from the Richmond Federal Reserve, both out at 10:00 AM ET, which could provide insights into the state of the U.S. economy.

Oil prices dipped Wednesday, some of the previous session’s gains. In Wednesday morning trade, dropped 0.5% to $79.18 per barrel, while dropped 0.25% to $84.45.

The is due to release data on U.S. crude inventories Wednesday after market close, and stocks are expected to have fallen, adding to last week’s 3 million barrel draw.

Additionally, fell 0.5% to $1,813/oz, while traded 0.2% higher at 1.0658. traded near flat at $16,709, not getting much of a bid from news that MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:), bitcoin bull Michael Saylor’s company, had , buying 2,395 bitcoins at an average price of $17,871.