Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 150 Points; SigmaTron International Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.42% to 35,905.44 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 15,570.02. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.66% to 4,698.21.

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

Consumer staples shares climbed 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included China Xiangtai Food Co., Ltd. PLIN, up 12% and Costco Wholesale Corporation COST up 6%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

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

SigmaTron International, Inc. SGMA shares shot up 34% to $10.80 after the company reported an increase in Q2 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Oracle Corporation ORCL got a boost, shooting 16% to $102.94 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results and increased its share buyback by $10 billion.

Bottomline Technologies, Inc. EPAY shares were also up, gaining 15% to $51.38 following a Bloomberg report suggesting the company is working with Deutsche Bank on a potential sale.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Everbridge, Inc. EVBG shares tumbled 47% to $61.28 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 $2.65 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.

AGM Group Holdings Inc. AGMH was down, falling 35% to $5.64 after the company priced a 2,898,552 share registered direct offering at $6.90 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $71.31, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,784.20.

Silver traded up 0.7% Friday to $22.175 while copper fell 1% to $4.2890.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.47% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 0.24% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.36%.

The British economy grew 0.1% month-over-month during October, while trade deficit shrank to GBP 2.027 billion in October from GBP 2.777 billion in the prior month. Industrial production in the UK slipped 0.6% over a month during October. Annual inflation rate in Germany increased to 5.2% in November.

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 total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 4 to 471 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Check out the full economic calendar here