U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 700 points on Friday.
The Dow traded up 2.14% to 33,634.19 while the NASDAQ rose 2.54% to 10,566.63. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 2.30% to 3,895.60.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Materials shares gained by 3.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Loop Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOOP), up 11%, and Taseko Mines Limited (NYSE:TGB), up 12%.
In trading on Friday, health care shares rose by just 0.6%.
Top Headline
The US economy added 223,000 jobs in December, the least since December 2020, following a revised 256,000 increase in November, and above market estimates of 200,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in December. Average hourly earnings climbed 0.3% to $32.82 in December.
Equities Trading UP
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $74.72 while gold traded up 1.5% at $1,868.50.
Silver traded down 2.5% to $24.00 on Friday while copper rose 2.2% to $3.9050.
Euro zone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.16%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.87% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.09%. The German DAX gained 1.20%, French CAC 40 climbed 1.47% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.40%.
Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone eased to 9.2% in December, the lowest in four months, while retail sales rose by 0.8% from a month ago in November.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI fell to 48.8 in December from 50.4 in the prior month, while the Halifax house price index rose 2% year-over-year in December versus a 4.6% increase a month ago. Factory orders in Germany fell 5.3% month-over-month in November, while retail sales in the country rose 1.1% month-over-month in November.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping 0.29%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.08%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.59% during the session.
Foreign exchange reserves in Hong Kong rose to $424 billion in December, the highest since August. The au Jibun Bank Japan Services PMI rose to 51.1 in December compared to a final reading of 50.3 in November, while average cash earnings in the country rose by 0.5% year-over-year in November.
Economics
US factory orders fell by 1.8% in November.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 103,048,880 cases with around 1,120,800 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,680,600 cases and 530,700 deaths, while France reported over 39,381,820 COVID-19 cases with 162,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 667,484,690 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,707,270 deaths.