U.S. stocks traded mostly lower toward the end of trading, following the release of jobs data
The Dow traded down 0.01% to 32,724.99 while the NASDAQ fell 0.92% to 12,604.01. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.49% to 4,131.45.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 2.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. CLMT, up 19% and Aemetis Inc AMTX up 23%.
In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 2.2%.
Top Headline
The U.S. added 528,000 jobs in July, beating consensus economist estimates of 258,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.5%, returning to its pre-COVID pandemic level. Wages were up 5.2% from a year ago and by 0.5% from June.
Equities Trading UP
Athenex Inc ATNX shares shot up 48% to $0.93 as India’s Intas Pharmaceuticals and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd are reportedly in talks to acquire Athenex.
Shares of Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. CPS got a boost, shooting 75% to $8.88 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 adjusted EPS and sales results.
Marker Therapeutics, Inc. MRKR shares were also up, gaining 64% to $0.54. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced clearance to Marker Therapeutics’ Investigational New Drug (IND) application for MT-601 for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Equities Trading DOWN
Quoin Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. QNRX shares tumbled 61% to $5.54 after the company priced a $16.8 million public offering.
Shares of Hyzon Motors Inc. HYZN were down 38% to $2.79 after the company late Thursday disclosed an investigation into internal controls and revenue recognition timing. JP Morgan downgraded the stock to Underweight on Friday.
Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. HSDT was down, falling 53% to $0.48 after the company announced pricing of $18 million public offering.
Also check out: Market Volatility Eases Further As Nasdaq Reaches New Three-Month High
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $88.87, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,790.50.
Silver traded down 1.3% to $19.86 on Friday while copper rose 2% to $3.5510.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.76%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.11% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.08%. The German DAX fell 0.65%, French CAC 40 fell 0.63% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.26%.
Payroll employment in the French private sector increased 0.5% to 20.70 million in the second quarter, while industrial production in Germany increased by 0.4% month-over-month in June. The Halifax house price index in the UK rose 11.8% year-over-year in July
Economics
The U.S. added 528,000 jobs in July, beating consensus economist estimates of 258,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.5%, returning to its pre-COVID pandemic level. Wages were up 5.2% from a year ago and by 0.5% from June.
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 93,739,660 cases with around 1,057,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,107,580 cases and 526,600 deaths, while France reported over 33,993,930 COVID-19 cases with 152,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 587,031,760 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,431,240 deaths.
Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.