Dow Jumps Over 100 Points; MBIA Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 100 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.36% to 36,248.73 while the NASDAQ rose 0.48% to 14,409.22. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.42% to 4,604.73.

Check This Out: Insiders Buying Bristol-Myers Squibb And 3 Other Stocks

 

Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Energy shares rose by 0.7% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell by 0.9%.

 

Top Headline

 

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 2 to 503 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Intensity Therapeutics, Inc. INTS shares shot up 83% to $7.67. Intensity Therapeutics presented INT230-6 data in early-stage breast cancer patients.

Shares of MBIA Inc. MBI got a boost, shooting 77% to $13.05 after the company announced it declared an extraordinary cash dividend on MBIA common stock of $8.00 per share.

Torrid Holdings Inc. CURV shares were also up, gaining 21% to $5.03 after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results and issued FY23 revenue guidance above estimates.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Cyngn Inc. CYN shares dropped 50% to $0.2010 after the company announced pricing of $5 million public offering of common stock of 33,333,333 shares at $0.15 per share.

Shares of HashiCorp, Inc. HCP were down 17% to $20.55 after the company reported third-quarter financial results.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL was down, falling 26% to $9.28 following weak quarterly earnings.

Also Check This Out: Robinhood, Airbnb And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling

 

Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded up 2% to $70.73 while gold traded down 1.6% at $2,013.60.

Silver traded down 3.1% to $23.315 on Friday while copper rose 0.9% to $3.8305.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.74%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.54% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.76% The German DAX climbed 0.78% French CAC 40 surged 1.32%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.94%.

Germany’s consumer price inflation rate fell to 3.2% year-over-year in November from 3.8% in October. Payroll employment within the French private sector rose by 0.1% to 21.10 million in the third quarter.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 1.68%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.07% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.11%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.44%.

Japan’s economy shrank by 2.9% on an annualized basis in the third quarter following a revised 3.6% increase in the second quarter, while current account surplus came in at JPY 2,582.8 billion for October. The gauge for Japan's service sector confidence came in unchanged at 49.5 in November, while value of loans in Japan rose 2.8% year-over-year in November.

The Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark policy repo unchanged at 6.5% for the fifth straight meeting in December.

 

Economics

 

Non-farm payrolls grew by 199,000 in November, an increase from the 150,000 reported in October and above the expected 180,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in November from 3.9% in the previous month.

On a monthly basis, average hourly earnings increased by 0.4%, accelerating compared to October’s 0.2% and beating the expected 0.3%.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment rose to 69.4 in December from 61.3 in the prior month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 2 to 503 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Now Read This: Lululemon To Rally Around 14%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Friday