Mid-Day Market Update: American Outdoor Brands Drops After Downbeat Q1 Results; Kura Oncology Shares Surge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.19 percent to 21,825.26 while the NASDAQ declined 0.25 percent to 6,381.84. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,464.12.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the financial shares surged 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kingstone Companies Inc KINS, up 6 percent, and LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB, up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell 1.09 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX, down 5 percent, and Endeavour Silver Corp EXK down 5 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 89 percent to $12.95 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 19 percent to $15.73 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter.

NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK shares were also up, gaining 36 percent to $18.53 after surging 74.58 percent on Thursday. Jefferies upgraded NewLink Genetics from Hold to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tintri Inc TNTR shares dropped 26 percent to $4.91 after the company reported mixed quarterly results. Bank of America downgraded Tintri from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of American Outdoor Brands Corp AOBC were down 16 percent to $14.28 after the company reported downbeat results for its second quarter and issued a weak guidance for FY18.

Science Applications International Corp SAIC was down, falling around 16 percent to $62.50 as the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.43 percent to $48.39 while gold traded up 0.12 percent to $1,351.90.

Silver traded up 0.16 percent Friday to $18.145, while copper fell 2.61 percent to $3.0615.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.43 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.11 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.01 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.35 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.