Dow Gains Over 100 Points; Eastern Bankshares Shares Drop After Q4 Results

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.41% to 34,088.68 while the NASDAQ rose 1.27% to 11,659.16. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.57% to 4,083.57.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer discretionary shares rose by 1.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Porch Group, Inc. PRCH, up 14%, and Lucid Group, Inc. LCID, up 48%.
• In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised higher to 64.9 in January versus a preliminary reading of 64.6.

Equities Trading UP

• BuzzFeed, Inc. BZFD shares shot up 84% to $3.8395, gaining for the second day, after reports surfaced about its deal with Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc yesterday.
• Shares of Applied UV, Inc. AUVI got a boost, shooting 53% to $1.5950 after the company announced that it has engaged a legal counsel to investigate potential illegal short selling of its stock.
• Quince Therapeutics, Inc. QNCX shares were also up, gaining 46% to $1.18 after the company announced the sale of its legacy small molecule protease inhibitor portfolio to Lighthouse Pharmaceuticals.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Nemaura Medical Inc. NMRD shares tumbled 40% to $1.72 after the company announced pricing of a roughly $8.4 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement.
• Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. EBC were down 9% to $15.94 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results.
• Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. CYTO was down, falling 12% to $2.83 after the company issued a business update.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6% to $79.75 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,929.40.

Silver traded down 1.7% to $23.62 on Friday while copper fell 1.2% to $4.2180.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.26%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.05% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.27%. The German DAX gained 0.11% French CAC 40 rose 0.02% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.83%.

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.
• The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 4 to 609 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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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.