Dow Jumps 150 Points; US Consumer Sentiment Surges In January

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 150 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.41% to 37,621.27 while the NASDAQ rose 0.66% to 15,154.43. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.46% to 4,803.12.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 1.1% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, materials shares fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment jumped to 78.8 in January, notching the highest level since July 2021, up from 69.7 in December and versus market estimates of 70, according to preliminary estimates.

Equities Trading UP

Kaman Corporation KAMN shares shot up 101% to $45.15 after the company announced it will be acquired by Arcline for $1.8 billion.

Shares of Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA got a boost, surging 20% to $0.2434 after the company announced the expansion of the NGC-Cap program into advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

Tricon Residential Inc. TCN shares were also up, gaining 28% to $11.05 after the company announced it entered into an arrangement agreement where Blackstone Real Estate Partners X with Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust will acquire all outstanding common shares of the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

C3is Inc. CISS shares dropped 64% to $0.1362 as the company announced pricing of $7.0 million upsized underwritten public offering.

Shares of Azitra, Inc. AZTR were down 29% to $1.4655 after the company filed for a firm commitment public offering of 3 million shares of common stock.

iRobot Corporation IRBT was down, falling 28% to $16.90 following a report suggesting the EU plans to block Amazon's acquisition of the company.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $73.90 while gold traded up 0.3% at $2,026.80.

Silver traded down 0.7% to $22.645 on Friday while copper rose 0.5% to $3.7620.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.23%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.10% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.18% The German DAX fell 0.08% French CAC 40 fell 0.41% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.14%.

Producer prices in Germany declined 8.6% year-over-year in December compared to a 7.9% fall in the previous month. Retail sales in the UK fell by 3.2% in December compared to a revised 1.4% rise in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.40%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.54% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.47%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.70%.

Foreign direct investment into China declined by 8% year-over-year to CNY 1.13 trillion ($157.1 billion) in 2023. The business confidence indicator in Hong Kong declined to +1 in the first quarter versus a reading of +8 in the prior three-month period. The annual inflation rate in Japan slowed to 2.6% in December from 2.8% in the earlier month, recording the lowest reading since July 2022.

Economics

U.S. existing-home sales fell by 1.0% from a month ago to an annualized rate of 3.78 million units in December, hitting the lowest level since Aug. 2010 and compared to market estimates of 3.82 million units.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment jumped to 78.8 in January, notching the highest level since July 2021, up from 69.7 in December and versus market estimates of 70, according to preliminary estimates.

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