Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.46% to 28501 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47% to 8,929.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.54% to 3,222.81.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD), up 24%, and SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL), up 6%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE:BB) reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views

BlackBerry reported third-quarter earnings of 3 cents per share Friday, beating the analyst consensus estimate by a penny. The company reported quarterly sales of $267 million, missing the consensus estimate of $275.73 million.

Equities Trading UP

Care.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRCM) shares shot up 14% to $15.03 after the company announced it will be acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) for $15 per share in an all-cash transaction of $500 million.

Shares of Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) got a boost, shooting up 24% to $14.70 on continued momentum after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results. The company also issued FY20 EPS guidance above analyst estimates.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNS) shares were also up, gaining 45% to $2.1750 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a price target of $6 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp (NASDAQ:MITO) shares tumbled 65% to $4.89 after the company announced data from the Phase 3 MMPOWER-3 trial evaluating elamipretide for patients with mitochondrial myopathy did not meet the primary endpoint.

Shares of Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ABEO) were down 39% to $3.0350 after the company priced offering of common stock and warrants at $2.50 per share. Abeona Therapeutics received EMA PRIME designation for ABO-102.

Valeritas Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLRX) was down, falling 54% to $0.7589 after the company announced it has revised its Q4 and FY19 guidance due to manufacturing yield issues. The company issued Q4 and FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $60.27, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,481.20.

Silver traded up 0.4% Friday to $17.225, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.8015.

Euro zone


European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.8%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.61%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.24%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.81%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.82% while UK shares rose 0.11%.

Economics

The US economy expanded by an annual rate of 2.1% in the third quarter, unchanged versus the second estimate and compared to a 2% growth in the prior three-month period.

US consumer spending increased 0.4% in November, while personal income rose 0.5% in November.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 99.3 in December, versus a preliminary reading of 99.2 and compared to 96.8 in November.

The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing production index declined to a reading of -7 in December, versus a reading of -5 in the prior month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs increased by 18 to 685 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.