Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Inflation Rate Increases To 6.8%

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.48% to 35,924.79 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47% to 15,579.93. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.60% to 4,695.55.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 50,535,790 cases with around 815,260 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,674,740 cases and 474,730 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,177,050 COVID-19 cases with 616,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 268,814,780 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,305,050 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Oracle Corporation ORCL, up 15% and Sprinklr, Inc. CXM up 16%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

Annual inflation rate in the US increased to 6.8% in November of 2021, notching the highest level since June 1982. However, the latest reading came in line with market estimates.

Equities Trading UP

Biofrontera Inc. BFRI shares shot up 29% to $6.00.

Shares of Oracle Corporation ORCL got a boost, shooting 16% to $103.10 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results and increased its share buyback by $10 billion.

Sprinklr, Inc. CXM shares were also up, gaining 15% to $15.51 after the company announced upbeat quarterly results.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Everbridge, Inc. EVBG shares tumbled 46% to $62.27 after the company announced David Meredith notified the Board of Directors of the company of his intention to resign from his role as Chief Executive Officer.

Shares of Angion Biomedica Corp. ANGN were down 24% to $2.67 after the company announced topline results from its phase 2 GUARD trial of ANG-3777 in cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury. The trial did not meet its primary endpoint.

Mesa Air Group, Inc. MESA was down, falling 19% to $5.70 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $71.17, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,771.10.

Silver traded down 0.7% Friday to $21.87 while copper fell 0.3% to $4.3455.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.3%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, French CAC 40 fell 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.2%.

German trade surplus shrank to EUR 12.8 billion in October from EUR 19.7 billion in the year-ago period. Imports climbed 17.3% to a record high of EUR 108.5 billion. Germany's current account surplus narrowed to EUR 15.4 billion in October from EUR 24.4 billion.

Economics

Annual inflation rate in the US increased to 6.8% in November of 2021, notching the highest level since June 1982. However, the latest reading came in line with market estimates.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury statement for November will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here