Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.18% to 27850.97 while the NASDAQ rose 0.18% to 10,930.12. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06% to 3,355.02.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,676,410 cases with around 197,650 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 5,214,670 confirmed cases and 84,370 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,455,380 COVID-19 cases with 134,930 deaths. In total, there were at least 30,205,220 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 946,670 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Communication services shares climbed 0.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included uCloudlink Group Inc. UCL, up 7%, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. CSSE, up 5%.
In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled 1.1%.
Top Headline
US consumer sentiment increased in September, with the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbing to 78.9 versus 74.1 in August.
Economists were expecting a reading of 75.9 for September.
Equities Trading UP
Cassava Sciences, Inc. SAVA shares shot up 28% to $9.10 following news of two insiders buying stock Thursday even for a total of about 225,000 shares.
Shares of Sonoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNOA got a boost, shooting 17% to $8.84 after the company said its partner MicroSafe Group received approval by Health Canada for their patented and trademarked Nanocyn disinfectant & sanitizer, which is manufactured by Sonoma using its patented Microcyn Technology, to be sold into Canada through an interim measure for disinfectants and hand sanitizers.
Veritone, Inc. VERI shares were also up, gaining 17% to $9.73 on continued momentum from yesterday after the company announced it was awarded a $1.3 million subcontract under the US Air Force Program to enhance satellite imagery analysis.
Equities Trading DOWN
BioVie Inc. BIVI shares tumbled 20% to $9.97 after the company reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 1,565,200 shares at $10.00 per share.
Shares of Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. CKPT were down 11% to $3.11 after the company said it has entered into an underwriting agreement with H.C. Wainwright & Co., under which the underwriter has agreed to purchase on a firm commitment basis 7.143 million shares at $2.80 per share.
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. RKDA was down, falling 11% to $3.11 after gaining 15% on Thursday. Arcadia Biosciences expanded its leadership team with new heads of commercial operations and product innovation.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $41.08, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,960.90.
Silver traded up 0.8% Friday to $27.315 while copper rose 0.3% to $3.0810.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.2%, French CAC 40 dropped 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%.
Retail sales in the UK climbed for the fourth consecutive month, rising 0.8% in August. German producer prices fell for the seventh straight month, declining 1.2% year-over-year in August.
Economics
The current account deficit increased by 52.9% to $170.5 billion during the second quarter.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to 78.9 in September versus 74.1 in August.
The index of leading economic indicators increased 1.2% for August, versus analysts’ estimates for a 1.3% rise.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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