Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; JPMorgan Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.27 percent to 19,945.11 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.45 percent to 5,572.69. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.30 percent to 2,277.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares gained around 0.70 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB, and Greenhill & Co., Inc. GHL.

In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell by 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX, down 4 percent, and Richmont Mines Inc. (USA) RIC, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Friday.

JPMorgan said it earned $1.71 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $23.4 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.44 per share on revenue of $24.0 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Naked Brand Group Inc NAKD shares shot up 155 percent to $2.65 after the company announced plans to to merge with Bendon Limited.

Shares of Sanchez Energy Corp SN got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $10.86. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation APC announced the sale of Eagleford Shale assets to Sanchez Energy and Blackstone Energy Partners for $2.3 billion.

Telenav Inc TNAV shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $8.40 after the company reported the settlement of patent lawsuit. The company projects Q2 revenue of $51 million to $52 million and loss of $0.30 per share to $0.28 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Uranium Resources, Inc. URRE shares dropped 26 percent to $2.31 after the company reported the pricing of $9.7 million public offering.

Shares of Skyline Medical Inc SKLN were down around 16 percent to $2.38. Skyline Medical priced its stock and warrant offering for gross proceeds of $3.9 million.

GameStop Corp. GME was down, falling around 8 percent to $22.65. GameStop slashed its comparable sales guidance for the fourth quarter and full year after it reported “disappointing” holiday sales on industry weakness, pricing pressure and lower store traffic.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.76 percent to $53.43 while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,195.60.

Silver traded down 0.48 percent Friday to $16.75, while copper fell 0.79 percent to $2.65.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.58 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.86 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.49 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.94 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.46 percent.

Economics

The producer price index increased 0.3 percent in December, matching economists’ expecttaions for a 0.3 percent growth.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.6 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent growth

U.S. business inventories rose 0.70 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.50 percent growth.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 98.10 in January, versus a prior reading of 98.20. Economists were expecting a reading of 98.10.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.