Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Rises Over 1%; Sarepta Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 28,135 while the NASDAQ rose 0.27% to 8,740.48. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03% to 3,169.63.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included EACO Corporation EACO 9.89%, up 10%, and EchoStar Corporation SATS 8.76%, up 9%.

In trading on Friday, materials shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Adobe Inc ADBE 4.45% reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results on Thursday.

Adobe posted quarterly earnings of $2.29 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $2.26 per share. Its sales came in at $2.99 billion, versus expectations of $2.97 billion.

Equities Trading UP

LMP Automotive Holdings, Inc. LMPX 61.84% shares shot up 66% to $36.90 on continued momentum after the company's President and CEO, Samer Tawfik, purchased $1.73 million worth of the company's shares.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. SRPT 35.63% got a boost, shooting up 37% to $137.20 after the company announced it has received FDA approval for VYONDYS 53.

Cohen & Company Inc. COHN 29.13% shares were also up, gaining 29% to $4.61.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. AQST 19.4% shares tumbled 20% to $5.39 after the company announced it has priced its public offering of 7 million shares at $5 per share.

Shares of Vince Holding Corp. VNCE 22.05% were down 24% to $19.00 after the company reported downbeat Q3 sales.

Athenex, Inc. ATNX 14.56% was down, falling 15% to $14.39 as investors react negatively to data from the company's Phase 3 trial comparing oral paclitaxel with IV paclitaxel.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $59.88, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,479.50.

Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $16.985, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.7805.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.09%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.01%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.26%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.46%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.59% while UK shares rose 1.1%.

Economics

US retail trade increased 0.2% in November, compared to a revised 0.4% rise in October.

U.S. import prices rose 0.2% in November, versus a 0.5% decline in the previous month. Export prices rose 0.2% month-over-month.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.2% for October.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.