U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining over 350 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.67% to 53,113.67 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06% to 26,082.46. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 7,663.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 2% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, utilities stocks fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter on Friday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.36 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.17 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $6.227 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $5.957 billion.

BJ’s Wholesale raised its FY2026 adjusted EPS guidance from $4.40-$4.60 to $4.60-$4.80.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • RF Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ:RFAI) shares shot up 306% to $51.69 following Thursday SEC filings detailing the results of an extraordinary general meeting. At the August 19 meeting, shareholders overwhelmingly approved the proposed business combination with Singapore-based, AI-driven drug discovery firm Nanyang Biologics Pte. Ltd.
  • Shares of Werewolf Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:HOWL) got a boost, surging 109% to $0.90 after the company announced a merger with Ambros Therapeutics. The companies secured commitments for an oversubscribed concurrent private placement of $150 million from a syndicate of leading healthcare-dedicated investor.
  • Jupiter Neurosciences Inc (NASDAQ:JUNS) shares were also up, gaining 57% to $8.09. Jupiter Neurosciences entered into definitive license agreement with PharmAla for its patented, non-racemic MDMA formulation ALA-002.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Jianzhi Education Tclgy Grp Co Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:JZ) shares dropped 25% to $2.48 after jumping 95% on Thursday.
  • Shares of iSpecimen Inc (NASDAQ:ISPC) were down 22% to $1.76 after declining around 5% on Thursday. iSpecimen announced it completed an international cancer research project.
  • Flux Power Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:FLUX) was down, falling 21% to $0.65 after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $86.99 while gold traded up 1.6% at $4,642.60.

Silver traded up 2.1% to $69.515 on Friday, while copper rose 2.1% to $6.6070.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.8%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.3%, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.2%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.30%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 1.21%, China’s Shanghai Composite rising 0.04% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.004%.

Economics

  • The S&P Global US manufacturing PMI fell to 53.2 in August from the previous reading of 53.9, versus market estimates of 53.9.
  • The S&P Global services PMI climbed to 56.8 in August from 54.6 in the prior month, versus market estimates of 54.
  • The US S&P Global composite PMI climbed to 56 in August from 54.5 in the previous month, recording the strongest growth since April 2022.

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