U.S. stocks traded mostly higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 0.1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.09% to 52,536.21 while the NASDAQ rose 0.08% to 26,226.88. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.21% to 7,559.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 0.9% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, health care stocks fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

Simulations Plus Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, after the closing bell on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of 30 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 13 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $21.886 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $20.918 million.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • WD-40 Co (NASDAQ:WDFC) shares shot up 23% to $295.00 after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results. Also, the company raised its FY26 adjusted EPS and sales guidance above estimates.
  • Shares of Jiuzi Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:JZXN) got a boost, surging 120% to $2.57 after the company announced plans to sign a cooperation agreement with a company specializing in AI intelligent imaging and data platform technologies.
  • Equipmentshare.Com Inc (NASDAQ:EQPT) shares were also up, gaining 18% to $18.84 after the company raised its FY26 revenue guidance. Also, the company authorized a $500 million share repurchase program.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • eLong Power Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:ELPW) shares dropped 46% to $0.31 as the company priced registered offering of 16.5 million units at $0.40 per unit.
  • Shares of 707 Cayman Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:JEM) were down 37% to $0.71 after the company announced a 12-for-1 share consolidation.
  • Virax Biolabs Group Ltd (NASDAQ:VRAX) was down, falling 28% to $4.55. Yesterday, the company announced it signed a $3.3 million agreement for the immediate exercise of 548,000 shares at $6 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $71.71 while gold traded down 0.8% at $4,108.20.

Silver traded down 1.1% to $60.095 on Friday, while copper rose 0.1% to $6.2730.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.6%. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.1%, while France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.20%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 0.60%, China’s Shanghai Composite dipping 1% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 1.08%.

Economics

The Baker Hughes total rigs count report will be released today.

Photo via Shutterstock