U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 200 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.74% to 29,817.07 while the NASDAQ fell 2.09% to 10,426.14. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.59% to 3,611.60. Also check this: Market Volatility Declines Following US Inflation Data

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares fell by just 0.6% on Friday. Leading the sector was strength from Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RETA) and Zymeworks Inc. (NASDAQ:ZYME).

In trading on Friday, energy shares dipped by 2.6%.

Top Headline

US retail trade came in unchanged for September, missing market estimates for a 0.2% rise.

Equities Trading UP

• Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:RBT) shares shot up 31% to $1.85. Rubicon Technologies appointed Phil Rodoni as CEO.
• Shares of Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTNX) got a boost, shooting 23% to $26.09 following a WSJ report indicating the company is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest.
• IMARA Inc. (NASDAQ:IMRA) shares were also up, gaining 34% to $3.46 after the company, along with Enliven Therapeutics, announced a merger agreement to combine the two companies in an all-stock transaction.

Equities Trading DOWN

• $First Republic Bank(FRC-N)$ (NYSE:FRC) shares tumbled 15% to $115.10 after the company reported mixed Q3 results.
• Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) were down 4% to $76.05 after the company reported Q3 EPS and sales results down from last year.
• Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVOS) was down, falling 54% to $0.3420 after the company announced pricing of $2 million public offering of 4 million units at $0.50 per unit.

Also check out: Why Otonomy Shares Dipped By Around 54%; Here Are 67 Biggest Movers From Yesterday

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.8% to $86.59, while gold traded down 1.5% at $1,652.70.

Silver traded down 3.3% to $18.30 on Friday while copper fell 0.4% to $3.4265.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.58%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.52%. The German DAX climbed 0.83%, French CAC 40 rose 1.09% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.92%.

The annual inflation rate in Spain fell to 8.9% in September from 10.5% in the prior month, while annual inflation rate in France eased to 5.6% in September from 5.9% in the previous month. Wholesale prices in Germany rose by 19.9% year-over-year in September.

Economics

• US retail trade came in unchanged for September, missing market estimates for a 0.2% rise.
• Import prices in the US fell by 1.2% from a month ago in September, while export prices dropped 0.8% in September.
• US business inventories increased 0.8% from a month ago in September.
• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment climbed to 59.8 in September, recording the highest level in six months, compared to 58.6 in the prior month.
• The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out this: Investor Fear Eases Slightly As Dow Jumps Over 800 Points

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 98,779,940 cases with around 1,089,910 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,623,990 cases and 528,850 deaths, while France reported over 36,102,540 COVID-19 cases with 155,730 deaths. In total, there were at least 629,035,400 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,568,520 deaths.