U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 150 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.38% to 49,453.05 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.66% to 23,635.11. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.48% to 6,954.85.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsUtilities shares gained by 1.5% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, health care stocks dipped by 0.5%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to 54.0 in January, recording its strongest reading since September 2025.

Equities Trading UP           

• Rich Sparkle Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:ANPA) shares shot up 115% to $52.00. Rich Sparkle signed a $39 million offering of 3 million ordinary shares at $13 per share.
• Shares of Quanterix Corp (NASDAQ:QTRX) got a boost, surging 31% to $8.54. Quanterix named Everett Cunningham as President, CEO, effective Jan. 19.
• CG Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CGON) shares were also up, gaining 24% to $52.18 after the company announced an expedited timeline for the topline data readout now expected in the first half of 2026 for the Phase 3 PIVOT-006 clinical trial comparing adjuvant intravesical cretostimogene grenadenorepvec versus surveillance in patients with intermediate-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Aquestive Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AQST) shares dropped 40% to $3.72 after the company received FDA letter identifying deficiencies that preclude labeling discussions for anaphylm (dibutepinephrine) sublingual film.
• Shares of Pacira Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) were down 13% to $22.70. The company reported preliminary FY25 revenue results.
• Beta Bionics Inc (NASDAQ:BBNX) was down, falling 31% to $21.98 after the company reported preliminary fourth-quarter financial results.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $59.34 while gold traded up 1.2% at $4,514.50.

Silver traded up 6.3% to $79.895 on Friday, while copper rose 2% to $5.9150.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.91%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.01%. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.85%, Germany's DAX rose 0.43% and France's CAC 40 rose 1.23% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.61%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.32%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.92% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.72%.

Economics

• Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 in December, mostly unchanged from November’s downwardly revised 56,000 gain and slightly below expectations for 60,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
• The unemployment rate slipped from a downwardly revised 4.5% in November to 4.4%, landing below expectations of 4.5%.
• Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% on the month, accelerating from November’s 0.2% increase and matching forecasts.
• Housing starts declined by 4.6% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 1.246 million units.
• Building permits fell by 0.2% to an annualized rate of 1.412 million in October.
• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to 54.0 in January, recording its strongest reading since September 2025.

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