Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises 150 Points; Energy XXI Gulf Coast Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.58 percent to 25,017.74 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.25 percent to 7,500.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.51 percent to 2,761.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the telecommunications services shares gained 0.65 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd IGLD, up 6 percent, and Shenandoah Telecommunications Company SHEN, up 3 percent.

In trading on Friday, technology shares rose 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Overstock.com Inc OSTK, down 12 percent, and Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) BITA down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Buckle Inc BKE reporting better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

The company earned $0.87 per share on revenue of $281.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $279.5 million.

Equities Trading UP

Amyris, Inc. AMRS shares shot up 17 percent to $6.50 after the company reported strong fourth-quarter results. Adjusted earnings came in at 61 cents per share, on sales of $81 million.

Shares of Qualstar Corporation QBAK got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $11.7595 after reporting fourth quarter earnings of 33 cents per share, up from a loss of 20 cents in the same quarter of last year. Sales came in at $3.2 million, up from $2.2 million a year prior.

Teligent, Inc. TLGT shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $3.14. Teligent reported a Q4 loss of $0.11 per share on sales of $16.101 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Purple Innovation, Inc. PRPL shares dropped 26 percent to $9.6632 after a report that CEO Sam Bernards stepped down. Co-Founder and Chair Terry Pearce was named interim replacement. Purple Innovation reported a Q4 loss of $2 million on sales of $63 million.

Shares of Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EXXI were down 27 percent to $3.940. Energy XXI Gulf Coast reported Q4 loss of $6.47 per share on revenue of $93.8 million.

Synacor, Inc. SYNC was down, falling around 15 percent to $1.75 following Q4 sales miss and weak FY18 sales forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.07 percent to $61.23 while gold traded down 0.50 percent to $1,311.20.

Silver traded down 1.20 percent Friday to $16.225, while copper fell 1.06 percent to $3.0945.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.51 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.04 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.92 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.77 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.56 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.57 percent.

Economics

Housing starts fell 7 percent to an annual rate of 1.24 million in February, versus a revised 1.33 million in January. Economists projected starts to reach 1.29 million last month.

Industrial production rose 1.1 percent for February, beating economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent gain.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 102 in March, versus a reading of 99.7 in February.

The number of job openings rose to 6.31 million in January.

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