Benzinga - by Lisa Levin, Benzinga Editor.
U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 50 points on Friday.
The Dow traded up 0.15% to 34,774.75 while the NASDAQ fell 0.35% to 13,986.43. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.06% to 4,505.03.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares jumped by 1.9% on Friday.
In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 1.1%.
Top Headline
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August versus the downwardly revised 157,000 increase in July and compared to market expectations of 170,000. The unemployment rate increased to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July.
Equities Trading UP
Taoping Inc. (NASDAQ: TAOP) shares shot up 45% to $3.3006 after the company reported a year-over-year increase in H1 EPS and sales results.
Shares of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) got a boost, shooting 21% to $68.04 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its outlook for the year.
Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVOS) shares were also up, gaining 57% to 0.22 after the company announced it received an Underwriting Clearance Notice for a $70 million coupon.
Equities Trading DOWN
Aditxt, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) shares dropped 31% to $37.81 after the company announced a $10 million private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.
Shares of PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE: PD) were down 7% to $23.99. PagerDuty posted upbeat second-quarter results, but issued weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.
Olin Corporation (NYSE: OLN) was down, falling 10% to $51.97 after the company announced Scott Sutton will step down as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board in the first half of 2024.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $85.49 while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,967.40.
Silver traded down 0.9% to $24.58 on Friday while copper rose 0.8% to $3.8515.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.01% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.34% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.59% The German DAX slipped 0.67% French CAC 40 fell 0.27%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.63%.
The HCOB Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 43.5 in August from July’s reading of 42.7, while France manufacturing PMI rose to 46 in August from July's 45.1. The HCOB German manufacturing PMI was confirmed at a reading of 39.1 in August, while the S&P Global/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI rose to 43.0 in August versus the preliminary reading of 42.5.
Industrial producer prices in Italy declined by 10.2% year-over-year in July, while Italian GDP shrank by 0.4% quarter-over-quarter during the three months to June. The HCOB Italy manufacturing PMI climbed to 45.4 in August from 44.5 a month ago.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.28% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.43%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.86%.
The S&P Global Indian manufacturing PMI rose to a 3-month high of 58.6 in August from 57.7 in the previous month, while the Caixin China general manufacturing PMI increased to 51.0 in August from 49.2 in July. Japanese manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 in August versus a flash level of 49.7.
Economics
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August versus the downwardly revised 157,000 increase in July and compared to market expectations of 170,000. The unemployment rate increased to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.2% to $33.82 in August following a 0.4% growth in the earlier month.
The S&P Global manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 47.9 in August versus a preliminary reading of 47.
Construction spending in the U.S. increased by 0.7% month-over-month to an annual rate of $1,972.6 billion in July.
The ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.6 in August versus 46.4 in the previous month, exceeding market estimates of 47.0.
The total number of active U.S. oil rigs came in unchanged at 512 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.
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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 108,087,320 cases with around 1,173,650 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,160 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 694,630,520 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,911,550 deaths.
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