Crude Oil Down 2%; Maravai LifeSciences Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index jumping more than 100 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.36% to 39,209.32 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 16,042.80. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.18% to 5,096.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Utilities shares rose by 0.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.9%.

 

Top Headline

 

AerCap Holdings N.V. AER reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Friday.

Total revenues and other income rose 4% to $1.899 billion, missing the consensus of $1.926 billion. Adjusted EPS of $3.11 beat the analyst consensus of $2.45.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

AXT, Inc. AXTI shares shot up 71% to $3.8980 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Shares of Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc. MRVI got a boost, surging 65% to $8.42 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Monopar Therapeutics Inc. MNPR shares were also up, gaining 37% to $1.5306 after the company announced preclinical data for its MNPR-101 radiopharma program targeting advanced cancers.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Sequans Communications S.A. SQNS shares dropped 62% to $0.9651 after Renesas announced that it has terminated the previously announced MOU for a proposed acquisition of Sequans.

Shares of Smith Micro Software, Inc. SMSI were down 41% to $0.48 following weak quarterly sales.

Upland Software, Inc. UPLD was down, falling 35% to $2.87 after the company reported downbeat quarterly earnings.

Also Check This Out: Jim Cramer: Unity Software 'Had Problems,' But Zscaler Is A 'Good One' To Buy

 

Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.3% to $76.77 while gold traded up 0.9% at $2,048.00.

Silver traded up 0.7% to $22.95 on Friday while copper fell 0.6% to $3.8750.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.43%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.28% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.08% The German DAX gained 0.28% French CAC 40 rose 0.70% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.07%.

German economy contracted by 0.3% during the final quarter of 2023, while the Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany edged higher to 85.5 in February from 85.2 in January. Median consumer expectations for the eurozone inflation over the next 12 months accelerated to 3.3% in January versus 3.2% in the prior month. The GfK Consumer Confidence indicator for the UK fell to -21 in February versus -19 in January.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.10%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.55% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.1%.

Chinese new home prices fell by 0.7% year-over-year for January versus a 0.4% fall a month ago.

 

Economics

 

Data on Baker Hughes rig count for the recent week will be released at 1 p.m. ET.

Now Read This: Starbucks, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling