U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping more than 300 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.82% to 43,111.11 while the NASDAQ rose 1.77% to 19,714.27. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.76% to 5,970.36.

Check This Out: Jim Cramer Likes Walmart, Recommends Buying This ‘Very, Very Good’ Financial Stock

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares jumped by 2.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.6%.

Top Headline

The U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month-over-month in November down from 0.2% in each of the prior two months and compared to market estimates of 0.2%.

Equities Trading UP

Humacyte, Inc. ( HUMA ) shares shot up 40% to $4.8500 after the company announced FDA approval for SYMVESS for treating extremity vascular injuries. HC Wainwright & Co. raised its price target on the stock from $12 to $15.

Shares of Personalis, Inc. ( PSNL ) got a boost, surging 25% to $6.55 after the company and Moderna recently announced a multi-year extension to continue utilizing the Personalis ImmunoID NeXT platform and technology for V940/mRNA-4157. The company also announced an investment from Merck.

Taoping Inc. ( TAOP ) shares were also up, gaining 31% to $0.4153 after the company announced it received an additional 180 calendar days for compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cyngn Inc. ( CYN ) shares dropped 74% to $0.4173 as the company reported the pricing of $20.0 million follow on offering.

Shares of Galectin Therapeutics Inc. ( GALT ) were down 53% to $0.9499 after the company announced top-line results of its NAVIGATE clinical trial and confirmed belapectin did not achieve statistical significance.

Novo Nordisk A/S ( NVO ) was down, falling 17% to $86.01. The company announced headline results from REDEFINE 1, a phase 3 trial in the global REDEFINE program.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $68.97 while gold traded up 1.5% at $2,645.80.

Silver traded up 1.6% to $29.890 on Friday, while copper rose 0.4% to $4.0925.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 0.99%, Germany's DAX fell 0.59% and France's CAC 40 declined 0.37%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.10%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.25%.

Consumer confidence in the Eurozone declined by 0.8 points to a reading of -14.5 in December.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.29%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.16%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.06% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.49%.

Economics

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 74 in December, recording the highest level since April, and versus a reading of 71.8 in November.

U.S. personal income increased by 0.3% month-over-month in November compared to a revised 0.7% gain in October.

Personal spending increased by 0.4% to an annualized rate of $20.2 trillion in November.

The U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month-over-month in November down from 0.2% in each of the prior two months and compared to market estimates of 0.2%.

Now Read This:

Top 3 Risk Off Stocks That May Collapse This Month