U.S. stocks were trading mixed midway through the session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding approximately 70 points on Friday.
The Dow traded down 0.19% to 37,369.52 while the NASDAQ rose 0.16% to 14,533.16. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining 0.12% to 4,694.09.
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Market Movement
Consumer discretionary shares soared by 0.9% on Friday.
Meanwhile, health care shares only rose by 0.1% in trading on Friday.
ISM Services PMI
The ISM services PMI declined to 50.6 in December, marking the weakest reading in seven months and dropping from November’s reading of 52.7.
Stocks Gaining Ground
Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. DRMA shares surged 24% to $0.7593 after the company announced the issuance of a new patent in Japan for its DMT410 program for hyperhidrosis.
Shares of Banzai International, Inc. BNZI rocketed 94% to $3.2141 as the company signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire IGLeads, a cutting-edge automated lead generation platform.
Revelstone Capital Acquisition Corp. RCAC shares also witnessed a significant increase, gaining 90% to $10.74 as the company cancelled a special meeting to approve business combination with Set Jet, Inc.
Stocks in Decline
Applied Therapeutics, Inc. APLT shares tumbled 35% to $2.4750 after the company released topline results of the ARISE-HF Phase 3 trial of AT-001 (caficrestat) in patients with Diabetic Cardiomyopathy (DbCM) at high risk of progression to overt heart failure.
Additionally, shares of agilon health, inc. AGL dropped 36% to $7.70 as the company lowered its 2023 financial outlook.
Medical Properties Trust, Inc. MPW fell 31% to $3.4650 after disclosing plans to reduce its exposure to tenant Steward Health Care System. Keybanc analyst Austin Wurschmidt downgraded Medical Properties Trust from Overweight to Sector Weight.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $73.79 while gold traded up 0.9% at $2,068.40. Silver traded up 1.9% to $23.635 on Friday while copper rose 0.2% to $3.8525.
Eurozone Performance
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.24%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.41%, Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.07%, while the German DAX rose 0.01%. The French CAC 40 fell 0.33%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.19%. Industrial producer prices in the Eurozone declined 8.8% year-over-year in November versus a 9.4% decline a month ago.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.27%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.66%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.85%. Meanwhile, India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.25%. Foreign exchange reserves in Hong Kong rose to $425.5 billion in December versus a seven-month high level of $424.6 billion a month ago.
U.S. Economic Indicators
The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in December versus a revised 173,000 in November, and compared to market estimates of 170,000. The unemployment rate in the U.S. remained unchanged at 3.7% in December, compared to market estimates of 3.8%. Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.4% over a month to $34.27 for December.
In addition, U.S. factory orders rose 2.6% month-over-month in November versus a revised 3.4% decline in October.
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