Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Dow Surges 1.5%

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 450 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.52% to 32,211.75 while the NASDAQ rose 3.31% to 11,746.83. The S&P also rose, gaining, 2.24% to 4,017.93.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 3.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Duolingo, Inc. DUOL, up 35% and Mullen Automotive, Inc. MULN up 19%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.7%.

Top Headline

Import prices in the US came in flat for April, versus a revised 2.9% surge in March. US export prices increased by 0.6% from a month ago in April versus a revised 4.1% rise in the previous month.

Equities Trading UP

Veru Inc. VERU shares shot up 50% to $13.52 after the company reported quarterly results on Thursday. Jefferies maintained Veru with a Buy and raised the price target from $33 to $55.

Shares of Inotiv, Inc. NOTV got a boost, shooting 37% to $16.40 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

Duolingo, Inc. DUOL shares were also up, gaining 35% to $90.40 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Actelis Networks Inc. ASNS shares tumbled 28% to $2.87 after the company priced its IPO at $4 per share.

Shares of Brilliant Earth Group, Inc. BRLT were down 26% to $5.01 after the company reported issued Q2 and FY22 net sales guidance below analyst estimates.

FIGS, Inc. FIGS was down, falling 24% to $9.81 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 adjusted EPS and sales results and cut FY22 sales guidance to below analyst estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $107.74, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,812.10.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $20.695 on Friday while copper fell 0.7% to $4.0740.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.5%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.7% and Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.1%. The German DAX gained 1.5%, French CAC 40 rose 1.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.3%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 1.8% in March. Spain’s annual inflation eased to 8.3% in April from around 40-year high of 9.8% in March, while annual inflation rate in France was confirmed at 4.8%.

Economics

Import prices in the US came in flat for April, versus a revised 2.9% surge in March. US export prices increased by 0.6% from a month ago in April versus a revised 4.1% rise in the previous month.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment declined to 59.1 in May from 65.2 in April.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 84,066,370 cases with around 1,026,100 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,116,600 cases and 524,190 deaths, while Brazil reported over 30,639,130 COVID-19 cases with 664,700 deaths. In total, there were at least 519,878,850 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,284,860 deaths.