Dow Edges Lower; Nike Sales Miss Estimates

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index turning lower on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.05% to 37,385.32 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12% to 14,982.36. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.15% to 4,753.64.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares jumped by 0.9% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

NIKE, Inc. NKE posted better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, but sales missed expectations.

Nike reported quarterly earnings of $1.03 per share, surpassing analyst expectations of 85 cents. Revenue of $13.39 billion missed the Street's estimate of $13.43 billion.

The company also stated that it is assessing opportunities to deliver up to $2 billion in cumulative cost savings during the next three years.

Equities Trading UP

Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. KRTX shares shot up 47% to $316.66. Bristol Myers Squibb & Co BMY agreed to acquire Karuna Therapeutics for $330.00 per share in cash, for a total equity value of $14.0 billion, or $12.7 billion net of estimated cash acquired.

Shares of Royalty Management Holding Corporation RMCO got a boost, surging 44% to $2.87 after the company said its unit Ferrox Holdings confirmed the commencement of production of titanium ferrite from its Tivani operating site.

Daseke, Inc. DSKE shares were also up, gaining 65% to $8.11 after the company announced it will be acquired by TFI International.

Equities Trading DOWN

AlloVir, Inc. ALVR shares dropped 66% to $0.7808 after the company provided an update on its three Phase 3 clinical trials with posoleucel, an investigational off-the-shelf multi-virus-specific T cell therapy, which targets six viral pathogens in immunocompromised individuals: adenovirus (AdV), BK virus (BKV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and JC virus (JCV).

Shares of Advent Technologies Holdings, Inc. ADN were down 35% to $0.2042 after the company announced a $2 million registered direct offering of common stock.

Netcapital Inc. NCPL was down, falling 36% to $0.2110 after the company announced pricing of a $4 million public offering.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $73.58 while gold traded up 0.6% at $2,064.00.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $24.575 on Friday while copper fell 0.3% to $3.9040.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.14%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.04% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.08% The German DAX rose 0.11% French CAC 40 fell 0.03%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.26%.

The consumer confidence index in Italy climbed to 106.7 in December from 103.6 a month ago, while manufacturing confidence index fell to 95.4 in December from 96.6 in November. Spanish economy grew by 0.3% quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter.

Producer prices in the French domestic market rose by 2.4% month-over-month in November compared to a revised 0.1% decline a month ago, while consumer confidence increased to 89 in December versus a revised 88 in the prior month.

The British economy grew by 0.3% year-over-year in the third quarter, while current account deficit shrank to £17.2 billion in the third quarter of versus a revised £24.0 billion gap in the prior period. Retail sales in the U.K. rose by 1.3% from a month ago in November.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.09%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.69% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.13%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.34%.

The annual inflation rate in Japan fell to 2.8% in November from 3.3% in the earlier month, while food prices in Japan increased by 7.3% from a year ago in November.

Economics

New orders for manufactured durable goods rose by 5.4% month-over-month in November.

Building permits in the U.S. declined by 2.1% to an annual rate of 1.467 million in November versus the preliminary estimate of 1.460 million.

Personal income in the U.S. rose by 0.4% month-over-month in November, while personal spending increased by 0.2% from a month ago in November.

Core PCE prices in the U.S. rose by 0.1% from the prior month in November. However, core prices rose by 3.2% from the prior year, compared to market estimates of 3.3%.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment was revised higher to 69.7 in December versus a preliminary reading of 69.4.

Sales of new single-family houses fell by 12.2% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 590 thousand in November.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 3 this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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