Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Greenbrier Beats Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.65 percent to 24,346.39 while the NASDAQ declined 0.48 percent to 7,042.38. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.52 percent to 2,649.13.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the consumer staples shares gained 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT, up 9 percent, and Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. PME, up 3 percent.

In trading on Friday, industrials shares fell 0.79 percent.

Top Headline

Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX reported better-than-expected results for fiscal second quarter.

The supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets said it earned $1.02 per share in the quarter on revenue of $629.3 million versus expectations of 97 cents per share and $612.8 million.

Equities Trading UP

Broadwind Energy, Inc. BWEN shares shot up 18 percent to $2.74 after the company disclosed that it has recently booked $10 million in new tower orders and Gearing segment orders of $15 million in Q1.

Shares of Longfin Corp. LFIN got a boost, shooting up 47 percent to $28.10 after climbing 64.86 percent on Thursday.

PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $90.605 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Thursday.

Equities Trading DOWN

NewLink Genetics Corporation NLNK shares dropped 35 percent to $4.77.

Shares of Incyte Corporation INCY were down 19 percent to $67.38 after the company announced Friday a disappointing update to a phase 3 trial. Incyte said its experimental therapy called epacadostat failed in a phase 3 trial called ECHO-301 to improve the efficacy of Merck & Co's Keytruda when the two therapies were combined to treat patients suffering from melanoma.

MannKind Corporation MNKD was down, falling around 24 percent to $1.82. MannKind priced its 14 million share registered direct offering at $2 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.22 percent to $63.40 while gold traded up 0.40 percent to $1,333.80.

Silver traded up 0.46 percent Friday to $16.43, while copper fell 0.88 percent to $3.0475.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.39 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.32 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.35 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.07 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 103,000 new jobs in March. However, economists were expecting a gain of 193,000 new nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent in March.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago at 10:30 a.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 Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Santa Rosa, California at 4:00 p.m. ET.