Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.32% to 36,351.67 while the NASDAQ fell 0.68% to 14,978.67. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.17% to 4,688.12.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 59,564,110 cases with around 855,840 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 35,226,380 cases and 483,170 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,395,320 COVID-19 cases with 619,730 deaths. In total, there were at least 301,006,860 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,491,880 deaths.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 1.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sabine Royalty Trust SBR, up 11% and Ur-Energy Inc. URG up 7%.
In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.7%.
Top Headline
The US economy added just 199,000 jobs in December, well below analysts’ estimates of 422,000. The unemployment rate, however, dropped to 3.9%, the lowest since February 2020. Wage growth was 4.7%, down slightly from 4.7% in November.
Equities Trading UP
Marin Software Incorporated MRIN shares shot up 24% to $4.2899 after the company announced an integration with Amazon Ads' demand-side platform.
Shares of Absci Corporation ABSI got a boost, shooting 16% to $7.14 after the company announced a research collaboration with Merck.
Discovery, Inc. DISCA shares were also up, gaining 16% to $29.91 after B of A Securities upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $34 to $45.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Siyata Mobile Inc. SYTA shares tumbled 42% to $1.86 after the company announced pricing of a $20 million underwritten public offering.
Shares of Aehr Test Systems AEHR were down 18% to $16.75 after reporting Q2 results.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. KRUS was down, falling 22% to $54.64 as the company posted downbeat Q1 sales.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $79.08, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,796.90.
Silver traded up 0.8% Friday to $22.375 while copper rose 1.2% to $4.4050.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.39%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.47%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.43%. The German DAX dropped 0.65%, French CAC 40 declined 0.42% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.13%.
French current account deficit widened to EUR 3.6 billion in November from a revised EUR 2.5 billion gap in the prior month, while trade deficit increased to EUR 9.73 billion from EUR 7.70 billion. France's industrial production dropped 0.4% in November.
German trade surplus shrank to €12 billion in November from €16.8 billion in the year-ago period, while current account surplus fell to EUR 18.9 billion from EUR 21.7 billion. Industrial production in Germany fell 0.2% from a month ago in November. The Halifax house price index in the UK surged 9.8% year-over-year in December.
Economics
The US economy added just 199,000 jobs in December, well below analysts’ estimates of 422,000. The unemployment rate, however, dropped to 3.9%, the lowest since February 2020. Wage growth was 4.7%, down slightly from 4.7% in November.
The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 481 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.
Data on consumer credit for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
