Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Finisar Issues Weak Q2 Forecast

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 21,802.77 while the NASDAQ declined 0.34 percent to 6,376.06. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,462.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the financial shares surged 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included 1st Source Corporation SRCE, up 5 percent, and LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB, up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell 0.80 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX, down 5 percent, and Endeavour Silver Corp EXK down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Finisar Corporation FNSR reported in-line earnings for its first quarter, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

Finisar reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $341.806 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $341.2 million.

Finisar expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.27 to $0.33 per share, on revenue of $322 million to $342 million. Analysts projected earnings of $0.50 per share on sales of $372.6 million.

Equities Trading UP

Kura Oncology Inc KURA shares shot up 85 percent to $12.70 after the company offered positive Phase 2 study for tipifarnib in HRAS mutant head and neck cancer.

Shares of Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $15.57 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter.

Bazaarvoice Inc BV shares were also up, gaining 6 percent to $4.97 after the company reported strong Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tintri Inc TNTR shares dropped 26 percent to $4.92 after the company reported mixed quarterly results. Bank of America downgraded Tintri from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of Cherokee Inc CHKE were down 14 percent to $4.00. Cherokee Global Brands reported Q2 adjusted loss of $0.05 per share on sales of $14 million.

Equifax Inc. EFX was down, falling around 14 percent to $122.97 after the company reported cybersecurity incident related to consumer info.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.16 percent to $49.01 while gold traded up 0.36 percent to $1,355.20.

Silver traded up 0.63 percent Friday to $18.23, while copper fell 1.42 percent to $3.099.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.27 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.22 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.41 percent.

Economics

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.60 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.40 percent gain.

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

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