Benzinga - by Avi Kapoor, Benzinga Staff Writer.
U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 50 points on Friday.
The Dow traded up 0.16% to 37,465.58 while the NASDAQ rose 0.28% to 15,005.25. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.28% to 4,759.82.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities shares jumped by 0.9% on Friday.
In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.4%.
Top Headline
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment was revised higher to 69.7 in December versus a preliminary reading of 69.4.
Equities Trading UP
Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRTX) shares shot up 47% to $316.30. Bristol Myers Squibb & Co (NYSE: BMY) agreed to acquire Karuna Therapeutics for $330.00 per share in cash, for a total equity value of $14.0 billion, or $12.7 billion net of estimated cash acquired.
Shares of Royalty Management Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: RMCO) got a boost, surging 49% to $2.9650 after the company said its unit Ferrox Holdings confirmed the commencement of production of titanium ferrite from its Tivani operating site.
Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSKE) shares were also up, gaining 65% to $8.11 after the company announced it will be acquired by TFI International.
Equities Trading DOWN
AlloVir, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALVR) shares dropped 66% to $0.7988 after the company provided an update on its three Phase 3 clinical trials with posoleucel, an investigational off-the-shelf multi-virus-specific T cell therapy, which targets six viral pathogens in immunocompromised individuals: adenovirus (AdV), BK virus (BKV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and JC virus (JCV).
Shares of Advent Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADN) were down 35% to $0.2050 after the company announced a $2 million registered direct offering of common stock.
Netcapital Inc. (NASDAQ: NCPL) was down, falling 34% to $0.2194 after the company announced pricing of a $4 million public offering.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $73.92 while gold traded up 0.7% at $2,065.20.
Silver traded down 0.1% to $24.55 on Friday while copper fell 0.3% to $ 3.9040.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.14%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.04% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.08% The German DAX rose 0.11% French CAC 40 fell 0.03%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.26%.
The consumer confidence index in Italy climbed to 106.7 in December from 103.6 a month ago, while manufacturing confidence index fell to 95.4 in December from 96.6 in November. Spanish economy grew by 0.3% quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter.
Producer prices in the French domestic market rose by 2.4% month-over-month in November compared to a revised 0.1% decline a month ago, while consumer confidence increased to 89 in December versus a revised 88 in the prior month.
The British economy grew by 0.3% year-over-year in the third quarter, while current account deficit shrank to £17.2 billion in the third quarter of versus a revised £24.0 billion gap in the prior period. Retail sales in the U.K. rose by 1.3% from a month ago in November.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.09%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.69% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.13%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.34%.
The annual inflation rate in Japan fell to 2.8% in November from 3.3% in the earlier month, while food prices in Japan increased by 7.3% from a year ago in November.
Economics
New orders for manufactured durable goods rose by 5.4% month-over-month in November.
Building permits in the U.S. declined by 2.1% to an annual rate of 1.467 million in November versus the preliminary estimate of 1.460 million.
Personal income in the U.S. rose by 0.4% month-over-month in November, while personal spending increased by 0.2% from a month ago in November.
Core PCE prices in the U.S. rose by 0.1% from the prior month in November. However, core prices rose by 3.2% from the prior year, compared to market estimates of 3.3%.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment was revised higher to 69.7 in December versus a preliminary reading of 69.4.
Sales of new single-family houses fell by 12.2% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 590 thousand in November.
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