U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite surging more than 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.61% to 42,648.40 while the NASDAQ gained 1.44% to 19,559.00. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.07% to 5,931.10.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped by 1.2% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, financial shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

The ISM manufacturing PMI increased by 0.9 points to a reading of 49.3 in December, topping market estimates of 48.4.

Equities Trading UP

Cerence Inc. ( CRNC ) shares shot up 66% to $13.18 after the company announced an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA to advance its CaLLM family of language models.

Shares of N2OFF, Inc. ( NITO ) got a boost, surging 202% to $3.2401 after the company announced it executed a binding LOI with Solterra Brand Services Italy to develop two 98MWP battery storage projects in Sicily.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( CYCC ) shares were also up, gaining 64% to $0.6094 after the company announced a securities purchase agreement with investor David Lazar for the sale of Series C and Series D Convertible Preferred Stock for $3.1 million in gross proceeds.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dogness (International) Corporation ( DOGZ ) shares dropped 22% to $36.62.

Shares of T Stamp Inc. ( IDAI ) were down 25% to $0.5150. The company announced it will implement a 1-for-15 reverse stock split.

Carmell Corporation ( CTCX ) was down, falling 31% to $0.4765. Carmell ( CTCX ) announced closing of previously announced PIPE investment from existing and new investors to support commercial build-out.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $73.69 while gold traded down 0.4% at $2,659.60.

Silver traded up 1.2% to $30.255 on Friday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.0495.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.48%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 0.55% and France's CAC 40 dipped 1.37%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.19%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.33%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.70% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.90%.

Economics

The ISM manufacturing PMI increased by 0.9 points to a reading of 49.3 in December, topping market estimates of 48.4.

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