Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Jumps 11%; Nu Skin Shares Tumble Following Weak Results

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.48 percent to 15,892.31 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.19 percent to 4,317.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.45 percent to 1,855.62. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Friday, energy shares surged by 3.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ship Finance International Limited SFL, up 14 percent, and NGL Energy Partners LP NGL up 11 percent. In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.03 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc NRG, down 5 percent, and Calpine Corporation CPN, down 6 percent. Top Headline Groupon Inc GRPN reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday. Earnings were $0.04 per share above Wall Street's breakeven estimates, while revenue were $917.2 million above $845 million consensus. Groupon added that it sees full year 2016 revenue between $2.75 billion and $3 billion versus estimates of $2.97 billion. Equities Trading UP Mercer International Inc. MERC shares shot up 29 percent to $7.95 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings. Shares of Groupon Inc GRPN got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $2.80 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday. Moneygram International Inc MGI shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $5.54 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings. Equities Trading DOWN LPL Financial Holdings Inc LPLA shares dropped 35 percent to $16.45 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results. Shares of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. NUS were down 22 percent to $24.48 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results and issued a downbeat forecast. Select Comfort Corp. SCSS was down, falling around 27 percent to $15.06 after the company reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and issued a weak earnings forecast. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 11.18 percent to $29.14, while gold traded down 1.02 percent to $1,235.10. Silver traded down 0.66 percent Friday to $15.69, while copper rose 1.15 percent to $2.03. Eurozone European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 jumped 2.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.33 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 3.53 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.56 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 1.58 percent, while U.K. shares rose 2.35 percent. Economics U.S. import prices declined 1.1 percent in January, while export prices slipped 0.8 percent in January. U.S. retail sales gained 0.2 percent in January, versus economists' expectations for a 0.1 percent growth. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 90.70 in February, versus a prior reading of 92.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 92.00.