Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; CarMax Earnings Beat Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.33 percent to 23,163.94 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.52 percent to 6,562.26. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.27 percent to 2,498.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the utilities shares climbed 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Spark Energy Inc SPKE up 2 percent, and Otter Tail Corporation OTTR up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views.

CarMax posted quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share on sales of $4.3 billion. Analysts were projecting earnings of $1 per share on revenue of $4.32 billion.

Equities Trading UP

MICT Inc MICT shares got a boost, shooting up 152 percent to $0.78 after the company announced Brookfield Interactive, ParagonEx, and MICT will merge and form a new company called Global Fintech Holdings.

Shares of Obalon Therapeutics Inc OBLN shot up 53 percent to $2.51 after the company announced FDA approval of Obalon Navigation System.

Christopher & Banks Corporation CBK shares were also up, gaining 48 percent to $0.46 after the corporation announced a $2 million buyback.

Equities Trading DOWN

Perrigo Company PLC PRGO shares dropped 22 percent to $41.00 after Irish regulators asked the company to pay around $1.87 billion in tax liabilities. The company plans to appeal Irish tax authorities on behalf of its Elan Pharmaceuticals, whose Tysabri intellectual property and Biogen Idec assets were said to be improperly reported in 2013. Perrigo's management assured no payments are required and liquidity will remain unaffected until a final determination is reached.

Shares of Therapix Biosciences Ltd. TRPX were down 17 percent to $3.75. Therapix Biosciences has delivered notice of termination to FSD Pharma for previously announced acquisition letter of intent.

TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TCON was down, falling around 30 percent to $0.71 after the company announced its Phase 2 TRAXAR trial did not meet its primary endpoint.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.46 percent to $45.21 while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,263.40.

Silver traded down 0.80 percent Friday to $14.75, while copper fell 0.2 percent to $2.691.

 

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dipped 0.76 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.15 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 dipped 0.38 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.10 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders rose 0.8 percent for November, following a 4.3 percent drop in the previous month.

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.4 percent for the third quarter.

Consumer spending increased 0.4 percent in November, following a 0.8 percent rise in the previous. Incomes increased 0.2 percent, versus a 0.5 percent increase in October.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 98.3 in December, compared to a preliminary reading of 97.5. Economists were expecting a reading of 97.2.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for December will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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