Mid-Day Market Update: ADTRAN Drops On Weak Q4 Guidance; Atara Biotherapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 24,810.38 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 6,942.16. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06 percent to 2,686.06.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell 0.21 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (ADR) ACH, down 3 percent, and Dmc Global Inc BOOM down 2 percent.

Top Headline

MassRoots Inc MSRT, a U.S.-based company that offers a mobile application for use in the cannabis industry, said Friday it created a subsidiary dedicated to developing blockchain-based solutions for the cannabis industry.

MassRoots said its fully owned subsidiary will be called MassRoots Blockchain Technologies.

Equities Trading UP

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PGNX shares shot up 12 percent to $6.56 after the company reported the FDA acceptance of New Drug Application for AZEDRA.

Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics Inc ATRA got a boost, shooting up 30 percent to $19.80 after the company reported the FDA clearance to initiate two Phase 3 clinical studies to evaluate tabelecleucel in patients with rituximab-refractory Epstein-Barr virus associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

MassRoots Inc MSRT shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $0.597 after the company said Friday it created a subsidiary dedicated to developing blockchain-based solutions for the cannabis industry. MassRoots said its fully owned subsidiary will be called MassRoots Blockchain Technologies.

Equities Trading DOWN

ADTRAN, Inc. ADTN shares dropped 14 percent to $19.12 after the company issued a weak guidance for the fourth quarter.

Shares of Live Ventures Inc LIVE were down 16 percent to $16.80. Live Ventures shares climbed 50.60 percent Thursday after the company reported FY17 sales of $152 million, up from $79 million in the prior year.

LiNiu Technology Group LINU was down, falling around 26 percent to $2.30. LiNiu Technology shares jumped 134.59 percent Thursday after the company reported 1H'17 results. The company posted net loss of $5.7 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.52 percent to $60.15 while gold traded up 0.64 percent to $1,305.50.

Silver traded up 0.78 percent Friday to $17.055, while copper fell 0.59 percent to $3.289.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.54 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.93 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.48 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.85 percent.

Economics

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