Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; RYB Education Shares Drop

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 23,561.74 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.12 percent to 6,875.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,600.92.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Friday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell 0.03 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Francesca's Holdings Corp FRAN, down 5 percent, and Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB down 5 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Marathon Patent Group Inc MARA shares shot up 85 percent to $4.04 after jumping 54.23 percent on Wednesday.

Shares of SandRidge Energy, Inc. SD got a boost, shooting up 7 percent to $18.76 following a report from Dow Jones that Carl Icahn purchased a 13-percent stake in the company. Icahn reportedly opposes the company's deal to purchase Bonanza Creek Energy.

LM Funding America, Inc. LMFA shares were also up, gaining 91 percent to $5.75 after surging 34.98 percent on Wednesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

RYB Education Inc - ADR RYB shares dropped 37 percent to $16.93 following reports of Chinese Police investigating claims of sexual molestation and needlemarks on children at Beijing Kindergarten. RYB Education also reported a $50 million buyback plan.

Shares of Medigus Ltd. MDGS were down 25 percent to $1.68. Medigus priced its 810,000 American depositary shares offering at $2 per ADS. Medigus reported a Q3 loss of $1.2 million on sales of $117,000.

Qudian Inc - ADR QD was down, falling around 17 percent to $13.55 after declining 16.19 percent on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.38 percent to $58.82 while gold traded down 0.32 percent to $1,292.70.

Silver traded down 0.59 percent Friday to $17.115, while copper rose 0.93 percent to $3.1885.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.32 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.37 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.88 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.58 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.03 percent.

Economics

The IHS Markit flash manufacturing PMI dropped to 53.8 in November, versus a prior reading of 54.6. The flash services PMI declined to 54.7 compared to 55.3.

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.