Nasdaq Jumps Over 300 Points, Novo Nordisk Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping more than 300 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.82% to 43,111.11 while the NASDAQ rose 1.77% to 19,714.27. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.76% to 5,970.36.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares jumped by 2.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.6%.

Top Headline

The U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month-over-month in November down from 0.2% in each of the prior two months and compared to market estimates of 0.2%.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Humacyte, Inc. HUMA shares shot up 40% to $4.8500 after the company announced FDA approval for SYMVESS for treating extremity vascular injuries. HC Wainwright & Co. raised its price target on the stock from $12 to $15.
• Shares of Personalis, Inc. PSNLgot a boost, surging 25% to $6.55 after the company and Moderna recently announced a multi-year extension to continue utilizing the Personalis ImmunoID NeXT platform and technology for V940/mRNA-4157. The company also announced an investment from Merck.
• Taoping Inc. TAOP shares were also up, gaining 31% to $0.4153 after the company announced it received an additional 180 calendar days for compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Cyngn Inc. CYN shares dropped 74% to $0.4173 as the company reported the pricing of $20.0 million follow on offering.
• Shares of Galectin Therapeutics Inc. GALT were down 53% to $0.9499 after the company announced top-line results of its NAVIGATE clinical trial and confirmed belapectin did not achieve statistical significance.
• Novo Nordisk A/S NVO was down, falling 17% to $86.01. The company announced headline results from REDEFINE 1, a phase 3 trial in the global REDEFINE program.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $68.97 while gold traded up 1.5% at $2,645.80.

Silver traded up 1.6% to $29.890 on Friday, while copper rose 0.4% to $4.0925.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 0.99%, Germany's DAX fell 0.59% and France's CAC 40 declined 0.37%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.10%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.25%.

Consumer confidence in the Eurozone declined by 0.8 points to a reading of -14.5 in December.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.29%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.16%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.06% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.49%.

Economics

• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 74 in December, recording the highest level since April, and versus a reading of 71.8 in November.
• U.S. personal income increased by 0.3% month-over-month in November compared to a revised 0.7% gain in October.
• Personal spending increased by 0.4% to an annualized rate of $20.2 trillion in November.
• The U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month-over-month in November down from 0.2% in each of the prior two months and compared to market estimates of 0.2%.

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