Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.42% to 33,645.90 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06% to 13,837.33. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.32% to 4,110.11.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 31,003,070 cases with around 560,110 deaths. Brazil reported over 13,279,850 COVID-19 cases with 345,020 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 13,060,540 cases and 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 134,038,180 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,904,550 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer discretionary shares rose 0.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included China Online Education Group (NYSE:COE), up 11%, and Natuzzi S.p.A. (NYSE:NTZ), up 15%.
In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares fell 0.6%.
Top Headline
Producer prices for final demand increased 1% in March after a 0.5% rise in January. However, analysts were expecting for a 0.5% rise.
Equities Trading UP
Shares of Affimed N.V. (NASDAQ:AFMD) got a boost, shooting 22% to $9.64 after the company announced initial clinical data from an investigator-sponsored study evaluating cord blood-derived natural killer (cbNK) cells pre-complexed with Affimed's innate cell engager (ICE) AFM13 (CD16A/CD30).
fuboTV Inc. (NASDAQ:FUBO) shares were also up, gaining 13% to $23.43 after the company announced it acquired exclusive streaming rights to the Qatar World Cup 2022 Qualifying matches of South American Football Confederation.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVOS) shares tumbled 23% to $2.7450 after the company reported pricing of $8 million registered direct offering at $3.35 per share.
Shares of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) were down 15% to $262.92 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $59.43, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,745.50.
Silver traded down 1.1% Friday to $25.31 while copper fell 1.3% to $4.0410.
Euro zone
European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.08%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.83% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.21%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 0.06%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.38% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.60%.
UK’s Halifax house price index increased 6.5% year-over-year in March. Spain's industrial production fell 2.1% from a year ago in February, while industrial production in France dropped 4.7% in February.
German current account surplus shrank to EUR 18.8 billion in February from EUR 20.2 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus narrowed to €18.1 billion from €20.3 billion. Industrial production in Germany declined 1.6% in February.
Economics
Producer prices for final demand increased 1% in March after a 0.5% rise in January. However, analysts were expecting for a 0.5% rise.
Wholesale inventories in the US rose 0.6% in February following a 1.4% increase in January.
The total number of active U.S. oil rigs came in unchanged at 337 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.
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