US Stocks Higher; Dow Rises 150 Points

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining over 50 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.47% to 34,107.87 while the NASDAQ rose 0.55% to 11,575.86. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.43% to 4,077.76.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer discretionary shares rose by 0.8% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Codere Online Luxembourg, S.A. CDRO, up 9%, and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY, up 7%.
• In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

American Express Co AXP reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued strong earnings guidance.

American Express reported fourth-quarter revenue net of interest expense growth of 17% year-on-year to $14.18 billion, missing the consensus of $14.22 billion. EPS of $2.07 missed the consensus of $2.22.

The company looked to increase the regular quarterly dividend by 15%, from $0.52 to $0.60 per share, beginning with the Q1 dividend declaration.

American Express expects revenue growth of 15% - 17% (consensus of $58.78 billion) and EPS of $11.00 - $11.40 (consensus of $10.52).

Equities Trading UP

• BuzzFeed, Inc. BZFD shares shot up 36% to $2.8404, gaining for the second day, after reports surfaced about its deal with Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc yesterday.
• Shares of Inozyme Pharma, Inc. INZY got a boost, shooting 15% to $2.42.
• MicroCloud Hologram Inc. HOLO shares were also up, gaining 18% to $10.40. MicroCloud Hologram, on Thursday, announced the launch of a Holographic Brain-Computer Interface(BCI) data acquisition system.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Nemaura Medical Inc. NMRD shares tumbled 37% to $1.8099 after the company announced pricing of a roughly $8.4 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement.
• Shares of Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, LLC BAER were down 30% to $13.21. Bridger closed merger agreement with Jack Creek Investment Corp on Tuesday.
• Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. CYTO was down, falling 13% to $2.8029 after the company issued a business update.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $82.06 while gold traded up 0.1% at $ 1,930.60.

Silver traded down 0.9% to $23.815 on Friday while copper rose 0.2% to $4.2765.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1%. The German DAX dropped 0.2% French CAC 40 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.3%.

Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 3.8% year-over-year in December. The Spanish economy grew by 0.2% on quarter during the three months to December. Industrial sales in Italy increased by 0.9% from a month ago in November, while consumer confidence in France dropped to 80 in January versus a revised 81 in the previous month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.07% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.54%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex dipped 1.45%.

The Domestic Supply Price Index in Singapore increased 2.4% year-over-year in December. Australia's import prices rose by 1.8% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, while export prices declined by 0.9% on quarter. Australian final demand producer price index rose by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter.

Economics

• Personal spending in the US fell 0.2% month-over-month in December versus market expectations for a 0.1% decline. Personal income in the US rose 0.2%. The PCE Price Index increased by 0.1% month-over-month in December.
• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised higher to 64.9 in January versus a preliminary reading of 64.6.
• Pending home sales in the US increased 2.5% month-over-month in December.

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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 104,093,490 cases with around 1,132,130 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,682,430 cases and 530,730 deaths, while France reported over 39,503,470 COVID-19 cases with 164,030 deaths. In total, there were at least 674,412,130 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,755,750 deaths.