Crude Oil Rises 1%; Verastem Shares Slide

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.12% to 39,112.74 while the NASDAQ rose 1.08% to 16,917.09. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.70% to 5,304.78.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 1.3% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, health care shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs came in unchanged at 497 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Akanda Corp. AKAN shares shot up 34% to $3.2001. The international medical cannabis company implemented a 1-for-40 reverse stock split on its ordinary shares effective May 23, 2024, according to a recent exchange filing.
• Shares of Merus N.V. MRUS got a boost, surging 34% to $58.86 after the company announced the publication of an abstract regarding petosemtamab in combination with pembrolizumab on the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting website.
• Deckers Outdoor Corporation DECK shares were also up, gaining 13% to $1,026.72 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Verastem, Inc. VSTM shares dropped 65% to $4.2550. The company announced that it initiated the rolling submission of a NDA to the FDA for accelerated approval of the combination of avutometinib and defactinib for adult patients with recurrent KRAS mutant low-grade serous ovarian cancer.
• Shares of TriSalus Life Sciences, Inc. TLSI were down 21% to $7.58. TriSalus Life Sciences announced commencement of exchange offer and consent solicitation relating to warrants.
• Genelux Corporation GNLX was down, falling 41% to $2.72 after the company reported pricing of approximately $27.5 million underwritten offering of common stock and accompanying warrants.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $77.74 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,334.20.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $30.455 on Friday, while copper fell 0.7% to $4.76.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.19%, Germany's DAX gained 0.01% and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.09%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.58%, while London's FTSE 100 declined 0.26%.

Producer prices in Spain declined by 6.6% year-over-year in April compared to an 8.2% fall in March. The manufacturing climate indicator in France declined to a reading of 99 in May. German economy grew by 0.2% quarter-over-quarter in the three months to March versus a 0.5% contraction in the prior period. Retail sales in the UK fell 2.3% month-over-month for April versus a revised 0.2% decline a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei falling 1.17%, China's Composite Index declining 0.88%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 1.38% and India's S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.1%.

The annual inflation rate in Japan eased to 2.5% in April versus 2.7%, while core consumer price index in Japan increased 2.2% year-over-year in April versus a 2.6% rise in the prior month.

Economics

• U.S. durable goods orders increased by 0.7% month-over-month in April compared to a revised 0.8% gain in March. However, markets were expecting for a 0.8% decrease.
• The total number of active U.S. oil rigs unchanged at 497 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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