Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Jumps 400 Points; Duolingo Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite adding 400 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.13% to 32,088.67 while the NASDAQ rose 3.52% to 11,771. The S&P also rose, gaining, 2.08% to 4,011.79.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 3.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrus Energy Corp. LEU, up 17% and Vertex Energy, Inc. VTNR up 15%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.7%.

Top Headline

Import prices in the US came in flat for April, versus a revised 2.9% surge in March. US export prices increased by 0.6% from a month ago in April versus a revised 4.1% rise in the previous month.

Equities Trading UP

Veru Inc. VERU shares shot up 41% to $12.74 after the company reported quarterly results on Thursday. Jefferies maintained Veru with a Buy and raised the price target from $33 to $55.

Shares of Inotiv, Inc. NOTV got a boost, shooting 38% to $16.56 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

Duolingo, Inc. DUOL shares were also up, gaining 36% to $91.00 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Actelis Networks Inc. ASNS shares tumbled 34% to $2.63 after the company priced its IPO at $4 per share.

Shares of LiqTech International, Inc. LIQT were down 45% to $0.4998 after the company priced its public offering of common stock and pre-funded warrants.

FIGS, Inc. FIGS was down, falling 26% to $9.55 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 adjusted EPS and sales results and cut FY22 sales guidance to below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4% to $110.34, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,808.20.

Silver traded up 1% to $20.99 on Friday while copper rose 1.5% to $4.1620.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.14%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 2.55% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.68%. The German DAX gained 2.10%, French CAC 40 rose 2.52% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 2.05%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 1.8% in March. Spain’s annual inflation eased to 8.3% in April from around 40-year high of 9.8% in March, while annual inflation rate in France was confirmed at 4.8%.

Economics

Import prices in the US came in flat for April, versus a revised 2.9% surge in March. US export prices increased by 0.6% from a month ago in April versus a revised 4.1% rise in the previous month.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment declined to 59.1 in May from 65.2 in April.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 84,066,370 cases with around 1,026,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,116,600 cases and 524,190 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,639,130 COVID-19 cases with 664,700 deaths. In total, there were at least 519,878,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,284,860 deaths.