Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; BlackBerry Beats Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.69 percent to 24,629.85 while the NASDAQ declined 0.11 percent to 7,704.73. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.42 percent to 2,761.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the energy shares surged 2.85 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included California Resources Corporation CRC up 13 percent, and Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. HOS up 13 percent.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 0.52 percent.

Top Headline

BlackBerry Ltd BB reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

BlackBerry’s non-GAAP revenue of $217 million and adjusted earnings per share of 3 cents beat $209.03 million and breakeven estimates, respectively.

Concurrently with its earnings release, BlackBerry announced a partnership with Bullitt Group to develop “BlackBerry Secure”-certified connected devices. BlackBerry cybersecurity technology will accordingly be embedded into Caterpillar Inc. CAT and Land Rover products.

Equities Trading UP

Ability Inc. ABIL shares shot up 35 percent to $6.15 after surging 110.65 percent on Thursday.

Shares of WillScot Corporation WSC got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $14.10 after the company announced plans to acquire ModSpace for an enterprise value of $1.1 billion.

Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. TNDM shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $23.46 after the company reported the FDA approval of the t:slim X2 Insulin Pump with Basal-IQ technology.

Equities Trading DOWN

Red Hat, Inc. RHT shares dropped 13 percent to $144.83. Red Hat reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but lowered its revenue forecast for the full year. The company announced a $1 billion buyback.

Shares of Green Brick Partners, Inc. GRBK were down 13 percent to $9.07. Green Brick priced its 7.1 million share common stock offering at $9.50 per share.

Sigma Labs, Inc. SGLB was down, falling around 13 percent to $0.92. Sigma Labs priced its 2.39 million unit offering at $1.00 per unit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.50 percent to $67.18 while gold traded down 0.03 percent to $1,270.10.

Silver traded up 0.21 percent Friday to $16.36, while copper rose 0.31 to $3.053.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.82 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.87 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.12 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.91 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.29 percent.

Economics

The Markit manufacturing PMI dropped to 54.6 in June, compared to 56.5. The services PMI declined to a reading of 56.5 from 56.8.

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