Mid-Day Market Update: Gap Shares Decline On Weak March Sales; BofI Holding Jumps

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.50 percent to 16,089.62 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.43 percent to 4,036.78. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 1,826.07.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Friday, energy shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.06 percent. Among the leading sector stocks, gains came from Equal Energy EQU and Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC NKA. Financial sector was the leading decliner in the US market today.

Top losers in the sector included Alto Palermo SA APSA, off 5.5 percent, and Piper Jaffray Companies PJC, down 3.5 percent.

Top Headline
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co JPM reported a 19% drop in its first-quarter profit. J.P. Morgan's quarterly profit declined to $5.3 billion, or $1.28 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $6.53 billion, or $1.59 per share. Its revenue slipped 8% to $22.99 billion versus $25.12 billion. J.P. Morgan's investment banking net income dropped 15%. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $24.43 billion.

Equities Trading UP
BofI Holding BOFI shares shot up 10.67 percent to $82.38 after H&R Block agreed to sell its banking business to BofI Federal Bank for an undisclosed amount.

Shares of Zynga ZNGA got a boost, shooting up 2.70 percent to $4.18 after the company named David Lee as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer. Morgan Stanley upgraded Zynga from Underweight to Equal-weight.

Diamondback Energy FANG shares were also up, gaining 5.73 percent to $69.39 after the company reported a 30% growth in Q1 production.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The Gap GPS were down 2.53 percent to $38.29 after the company reported a 6% decline in its same-store sales in March, versus analysts' expectations for a 4.7% fall.

Relypsa RLYP shares tumbled 4 percent to $24.22 after the company priced 3.59 million share offering at $24.50 per share.

JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM was down, falling 3.21 percent to $55.56 after the company reported downbeat Q1 earnings.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.74 percent to $104.16, while gold traded down 0.17 percent to $1,318.30.

Silver traded down 0.43 percent Friday to $20.01, while copper fell 0.15 percent to $3.04.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today.

The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.26 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.07 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 1.47 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 1.08 percent while U.K. shares declined 1.21 percent.

Economics
US producer price index rose 0.5% in March, versus economists' expectations for a 0.1% growth.

The preliminary reading of Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 82.60 in April, versus a prior reading of 80.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 81.00.