Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Hibbett Sports Reports Mixed Q4 Results

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.44% to 20,175.19 while the NASDAQ rose 1.25% to 7,239.90. However, the S&P fell 0.11% to 2,407.60.

US reported a total of 14,000 coronavirus cases with around 200 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 41,000 confirmed cases and 3,400 deaths, while Iran confirmed a total of over 18,400 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported no new domestic coronavirus case for the second consecutive day. In total, there are at least 245,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 10,000 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Everi Holdings Inc. EVRI, up 40%, and Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN, up 55%.

In trading on Friday, material shares dipped 2.4%.

Top Headline

Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Hibbett posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.51 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.62 per share. The company’s sales came in at $313 million, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $303.63 million.

Hibbett Sports reported a 4% year-over-year rise in Q4 same-store sales.

Equities Trading UP

Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. BLPH shares shot up 426% to $17.82 after the company reported that the FDA granted emergency expanded access for INOpulse for the treatment of coronavirus infection.

Shares of Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN got a boost, shooting 52% to $9.24 after surging around 35% on Thursday.

GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK shares were also up, gaining 42% to $5.85 after the company received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its ePlex SARS-CoV-2 test.

Equities Trading DOWN

Biomerica, Inc. BMRA shares tumbled 44% to $8.91 after surging over 55% on Thursday.

Shares of Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI were down 29% to $17.70 after rising over 26% on Thursday.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 32% to $9.69. Blue Apron reported a sharp increase in demand.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 4.6% to $26.39, while gold traded up 1.8% to $1,505.90.

Silver traded up 4.8% Friday to $12.715, while copper rose 0.8% to $2.202.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.7% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 3.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 4%, and the French CAC 40 rose 5.1% while UK shares rose 1.7%.

Economics

US existing home sales rose 6.5% to an annual rate of 5.77 million units in February.

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