Dow Surges Over 600 Points, Gold Jumps 1.5%

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index jumping more than 600 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.55% to 43,000.53 while the NASDAQ rose 1.65% to 19,693.06. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.53% to 5,956.61.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares jumped by 2.4% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.4%.

Top Headline

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 1 to 483 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Humacyte, Inc. HUMA shares shot up 40% to $4.8500 after the company announced FDA approval for SYMVESS for treating extremity vascular injuries. HC Wainwright & Co. raised its price target on the stock from $12 to $15.
• Shares of Personalis, Inc. PSNLgot a boost, surging 25% to $6.55 after the company and Moderna recently announced a multi-year extension to continue utilizing the Personalis ImmunoID NeXT platform and technology for V940/mRNA-4157. The company also announced an investment from Merck.
• Taoping Inc. TAOP shares were also up, gaining 37% to $0.4349 after the company announced it received an additional 180 calendar days for compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Cyngn Inc. CYN shares dropped 74% to $0.4276 as the company reported the pricing of $20.0 million follow on offering.
• Shares of Galectin Therapeutics Inc. GALT were down 54% to $0.9297 after the company announced top-line results of its NAVIGATE clinical trial and confirmed belapectin did not achieve statistical significance.
• Novo Nordisk A/S NVO was down, falling 17% to $85.72. The company announced headline results from REDEFINE 1, a phase 3 trial in the global REDEFINE program.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $69.43 while gold traded up 1.5% at $2,648.30.

Silver traded up 2.7% to $30.210 on Friday, while copper rose 0.8% to $4.1075.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 0.88%, Germany's DAX fell 0.43% and France's CAC 40 declined 0.27%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.24%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.26%.

Consumer confidence in the Eurozone declined by 0.8 points to a reading of -14.5 in December.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.29%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.16%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.06% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.49%.

Economics

• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 74 in December, recording the highest level since April, and versus a reading of 71.8 in November.
• U.S. personal income increased by 0.3% month-over-month in November compared to a revised 0.7% gain in October.
• Personal spending increased by 0.4% to an annualized rate of $20.2 trillion in November.
• The U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month-over-month in November down from 0.2% in each of the prior two months and compared to market estimates of 0.2%.
• The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 1 to 483 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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