Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Mastercard Beats Q3 Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.24 percent to 18,212.55 while the NASDAQ gained 0.04 percent to 5,217.80. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.08 percent to 2,134.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, industrials shares gained by 0.61 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included OSI Systems, Inc. OSIS, and Nanometrics Incorporated NANO.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares fell by 1.55 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included McKesson Corporation MCK, down 26 percent, and Novo Nordisk A/S (ADR) NVO, down 14 percent.

Top Headline

Mastercard Inc. MA delivered better than expected earnings and revenue for the third quarter.

Mastercard reported quarterly EPS of $1.08, beating estimates by $0.10. Its revenue came in at $2.9 billion, topping expectations by $0.15 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Gravity Co., LTD. (ADR) GRVY shares shot up 72 percent to $7.81 after the company reported Q3 results. GRAVITY reported Q3 earnings of $0.74 per share on sales of $13.143 million.

Shares of Data I/O Corporation DAIO got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $4.18 following Q3 results. Data I/O reported Q3 earnings of $0.08 per share on revenue of $6.58 million.

AtriCure Inc. ATRC shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $17.60 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q3 loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

Opexa Therapeutics Inc OPXA shares dropped 57 percent to $1.45 after the company disclosed that its top-line results from Phase 2b Abili-T trial evaluating Tcelna did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Senomyx Inc. SNMX were down 45 percent to $1.46. SENOMYX reported upbeat Q3 results, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

StoneMor Partners L.P. STON was down, falling around 43 percent to $14.11 after the company reported a temporary reduction in its quarterly cash distribution and issued a partnership update. Wunderlich downgraded StoneMor Partners from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.11 percent to $49.17 while gold traded up 0.21 percent to $1,272.20.

Silver traded up 0.63 percent Friday to $17.75, while copper rose 0.60 percent to $2.18.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.98 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.43 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.13 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.18 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.9 percent in the third quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.5 percent growth.

The employment cost index increased 0.6 percent for the third quarter.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 87.20 in October, versus a prior reading of 87.90. Economists expected a reading of 88.10.

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