Stock Markets Pause as Square Gets a Bitcoin Boost; Aurora Cannabis Has High Hopes for New York

Investors have been distracted by the presidential election all week; as of noon EST Friday, counting continued in key states. Yet market participants are also starting to take a look at other factors beyond the election results. After four straight days of big upward moves for the markets, Friday morning brought a more flattish performance.

However, earlier losses largely evaporated as major market benchmarks came close to the unchanged level by midday. As of just after 12:15 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was down 62 points to 28,328, and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) eased lower by 2 points to 3,508. The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) gave up 16 points to 11,875.

Earnings continued to play a role in supporting much of the stock market, and some of today's good news came from electronic-payments specialist Square (NYSE: SQ). Meanwhile, after a good day on Thursday, Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB) positively soared on Friday amid comments that suggest some big new markets might open up for marijuana in the near future.

Source Fool.com