Dow Gains 150 Points; US Durable Goods Orders Flat In August

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 150 points on Friday. Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.30% to 51,504.86 while the NASDAQ gained 0.08% to 26,959.93. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.10% to 7,711.60.

Information technology shares jumped by 0.8% on Friday. In trading on Friday, communication services stocks fell by 1%.

U.S. durable goods orders came in largely flat month-over-month at $338.6 billion in August, following two straight monthly gains and versus market estimates of a 0.4% decline.

Masonglory Ltd (NASDAQ:MSGY) shares shot up 110% to $4.14. Shares of Marygold Companies Inc (NYSE:MGLD) got a boost, surging 91% to $1.93 after Madison Dearborn Partners agreed to acquire the company in an all-cash deal valued at $2 per share, representing a 100% premium to the prior closing price. INLIF Ltd (NASDAQ:INLF) shares were also up, gaining 73% to $5.11 after the company reported a H1 profit versus a year-ago loss, driven by 26% revenue growth and higher margins.

Solowin Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:AXG) shares dropped 87% to $0.16. Shares of WidePoint Corp (NYSE:WYY) were down 57% to $4.81. Trugolf Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:TRUG) was down, falling 35% to $0.26 after the company announced a 1-for-10 reverse split of its Class A common stock.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $93.94 while gold traded up 0.4% at $4,313.40. Silver traded up 0.9% to $64.595 on Friday, while copper fell 0.5% to $6.7535.

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.4%, while France’s CAC 40 declined 0.2%.

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.30%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipping 1.01% and India’s BSE Sensex rising 0.43%.

U.S. durable goods orders came in largely flat month-over-month at $338.6 billion in August, following two straight monthly gains and versus market estimates of a 0.4% decline. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to 48.1 in September from a preliminary level of 47.8.