Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises Over 200 Points; Harvard Bioscience Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.77 percent to 26509.96 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.31 percent to 8141.96. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.91 percent to 2,944.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the energy shares rose 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Weatherford International plc WFT up 26 percent, and Geospace Technologies Corporation GEOS up 18 percent.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares rose by just 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

DISH Network Corp DISH reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter,

Earnings came in at $0.65 per share, missing estimates of $0.66 per share. Sales came in at $3.19 billion, in-line with estimates. The company’s pay-TV business lost a net 259,000 subscribers during the quarter.

 

Equities Trading UP

Zix Corporation ZIXI shares got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $11.01 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results. The company also gave strong guidance.

Shares of Yunji Inc. YJ shot up 44 percent to $15.83 after the company priced its 11 million ADS IPO at $11 per ADS.

Weight Watchers International, Inc. WW shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $23.14 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter and raised its FY19 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Titan International, Inc. TWI shares dropped 20 percent to $5.45 after reporting Q1 results. Titan International posted Q1 earnings of $0.2 per share on sales of $410.4 million.

Shares of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. HBIO were down 21 percent to $2.9650 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results and lowered FY19 forecast.

Renewable Energy Group, Inc. REGI was down, falling around 22 percent to $17.66 after the company reported wider-than-expected Q1 loss.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8 percent to $62.29 while gold traded up 0.8 percent to $1,282.00.

Silver traded up 2.4 percent Friday to $14.96, while copper rose 1.3 percent to $2.816.

 

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.39 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.55 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.18 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.4 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 263,000 new jobs in April, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent versus 3.8 percent in March. However, economists were expecting a gain of 185,000 jobs in April.

U.S. advanced trade deficit in goods increased 0.7 percent to $71.4 billion in March.

US Services Purchasing Managers' Index declined to 53 for April, versus prior reading of 55.3.

The ISM's non-manufacturing index fell to 55.5 in April, compared to a reading of 56.1 in March.

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Stanford, CA. at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors Member Michelle Bowman will speak in Stanford, CA at 3:00 p.m. ET.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in Stanford, California at 7:45 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly will speak in Stanford, California at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Stanford, California at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester will speak in Stanford, California at 7:45 p.m. ET.