U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 250 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.63% to 42,722.78 while the NASDAQ rose 0.14% to 18,306.94. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.39% to 5,802.82.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financials shares jumped by 2% on Friday.

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

Top Headline

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) gained more than 5% on Friday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

It reported a GAAP EPS of $1.42, beating the consensus of $1.28. Revenue fell 2% to $20.37 billion. Analysts expected $20.41 billion.

Equities Trading UP

• Top Wealth Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ:TWG) shares shot up 156% to $5.40. The company priced its $10.8 million public offering of 27 million ordinary shares at $0.40 per share.
• Shares of Pacific Biosciences of California Inc (NASDAQ:PACB) got a boost, surging 14% to $1.76 after the company announced it signed a research collaboration agreement with the National Cancer Center of Singapore. The project will use the company's sequencing technologies.
• Conduit Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CDT) shares were also up, gaining 44% to $0.1472 after AstraZeneca reported a 9.9% stake in the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dropped 8% to $220.01 following its Cybercab unveiling, with investors assessing a potential 2026 or 2027 timeline.
• Shares of Perspective Therapeutics Inc (NYSE:CATX) were down 15% to $11.32. Perspective Therapeutics announced plans to advance development of radiopharmaceutical therapy [212Pb]VMT01 after data at Society for Melanoma Research Congress.
• A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) was down, falling 6% to $81.42 after the company reported preliminary third-quarter results below estimates and cut its FY24 EPS guidance below estimates.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $75.44 while gold traded up 1.1% at $2,667.70.

Silver traded up 1.5% to $31.705 on Friday, while copper rose 1.1% to $4.4780.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.61%, Germany's DAX gained 0.77% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.61%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.56%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.29%.

The UK's trade deficit shrank to £0.96 billion in August compared to a revised £4.71 billion gap in July, while the British economy grew by 0.2% month-over-month in August. Industrial production in the UK climbed 0.5% month-over-month in August. The annual inflation rate in Germany fell to 1.6% in September from 1.9% in August

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.57%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dipping 2.55% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.28%.

Industrial production in India fell 0.1% year-over-year in August compared to a revised 4.7% gain in July.

Economics

• Core producer prices in the U.S. increased by 0.2% from the previous month for September compared to a 0.3% rise in August.
• The University of Michigan consumer sentiment fell to 68.9 in October versus a five-month high level of 70.1 in September, and compared to market estimates of 70.8.

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