Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Humana Beats Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.19 percent to 17,896.60 while the NASDAQ declined 0.18 percent to 5,049.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,087.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, healthcare shares gained by 0.80 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cerus Corporation CERS, and Air Methods Corp AIRM.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Clean Energy Fuels Corp CLNE, down 17 percent, and TETRA Technologies, Inc. TTI, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Humana Inc HUM delivered better than expected results for the third quarter. However, the company’s adjusted EPS forecast came in below the estimates.

Humana reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $3.18, beating estimates by $0.03. Its revenue of $13.69 billion exceeded expectations by $0.28 billion.

The company expects full adjusted EPS to be about $9.50, versus Street expectations of $9.51.

Equities Trading UP

Bankrate Inc RATE shares shot up 25 percent to $9.00 after the company posted better-than-expected Q3 earnings.

Shares of Christopher & Banks Corporation CBK got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $1.52 after the company reported strong preliminary revenue for the third quarter.

Cara Therapeutics Inc CARA shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $6.81 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q3 loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

MDC Partners Inc MDCA shares dropped 64 percent to $3.02. MDC Partners reported a Q3 loss of $0.64 per share on revenue of $349.3 million.

Shares of Invuity, Inc. IVTY were down 48 percent to $4.85. Invuity reported a Q3 loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $8.5 million.

Hill International Inc HIL was down, falling around 34 percent to $2.40. Hill reported a delay in the release of its Q3 financial results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.37 percent to $44.05 while gold traded up 0.18 percent to $1,305.60.

Silver traded down 0.09 percent Friday to $18.40, while copper rose 0.02 percent to $2.25.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.84 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.64 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.62 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.87 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.46 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 161,000 new jobs in October, while the unemployment rate declined tp 4.9 percent from 5 percent. Economists were expecting a gain of 175,000 nonfarm jobs.

The U.S. trade deficit dropped 10 percent to $36.4 billion in September, versus a revised $40.5 billion in August. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $36.9 billion. Exports increased 0.6 percent to $189.2 billion, while imports declined 1.3 percent to $225.6 billion in September.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Rob Kaplan will speak in Mexico City at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will speak at the International Monetary Fund at 4:00 p.m. ET.