Nasdaq Surges Over 300 Points; State Street Earnings Top Views

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.99% to 43,580.17 while the NASDAQ rose 1.81% to 19,688.08. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.25% to 6,011.81.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares surged by 2.3% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, health care shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

State Street Corporation STT posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Friday.

The company reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.60, beating the street view of $2.43. Quarterly sales of $3.412 billion (+12%) outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $3.320 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Nukkleus Inc. NUKK shares shot up 54% to $31.57 after the company announced it resolved its Nasdaq delisting notice and is now achieving compliance with the listing standards.
• Shares of Versus Systems Inc. VSgot a boost, surging 42% to $2.73 after the company announced expansion into the Brazilian market as part of its strategy to grow its international footprint.
• Qorvo Inc QRVO shares were also up, gaining 14% to $83.60 following a WSJ report indicating activist investor Starboard Value has acquired a 7.7% stake in the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Scorpius Holdings, Inc.  SCPX shares dropped 20% to $0.30 after the company announced its board approved a 1-for-20 reverse stock split.
• Shares of BioLineRx Ltd. BLRX were down 19% to $0.098 after the company announced a dilutive change in the ratio of American depositary shares to ordinary shares. The proposed exchange ratio is equivalent to a 1-for-40 basis reverse stock split.
• J B Hunt Transport Services Inc JBHT was down, falling 7% to $174.30 after the company reported fourth-quarter EPS below estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $78.23 while gold traded down 0.1% at $2,749.20.

Silver traded down 1.8% to $31.145 on Friday, while copper fell 1.8% to $4.3635.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 surged 0.69%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 1.20% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.98%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.64%, while London's FTSE 100 gained 1.35%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.31%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.18%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbing 0.31% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.55%.

Economics

• U.S. industrial production rose by 0.9% in December, topping market estimates of a 0.3% increase.
• Housing starts rose by 15.8% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 1.499 million units in December.
• Building permits declined by 0.7% to an annualized rate of 1.483 million in December.

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