U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 400 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.76% to 53,162.51 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 26,070.83. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.32% to 7,665.35.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 2.3% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, information technology stocks fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

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.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • RF Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ:RFAI) shares shot up 256% to $45.32 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 113% to $0.92 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.
  • Evolution Metals & Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:EMAT) shares were also up, gaining 30% to $4.34. Evolution Metals & Technologies recently reported second-quarter losses of 2 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of losses of 3 cents per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Ubiquiti Inc (NYSE:UI) shares dropped 10% to $519.00 after reporting fourth-quarter results.
  • Shares of OSI Systems Inc (NASDAQ:OSIS) were down 7% to $201.75 after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results and issued weak FY27 sales guidance. The company’s board approved an additional authorization to repurchase 1 million shares.
  • Flux Power Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:FLUX) was down, falling 23% to $0.63 after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $86.46 while gold traded up 1.6% at $4,645.10.

Silver traded up 2.2% to $69.610 on Friday, while copper rose 1.8% to $6.5845.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.9%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.6%, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.4%.

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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