Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Down Over 100 Points; Crude Oil Falls 1%

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.38% to 26,790.33 while the NASDAQ fell 1.29% to 7,927.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.66% to 2,957.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Grupo Supervielle S.A. SUPV, up 6%, and Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. GGAL, up 6%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Micron Technology, Inc. MU reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Adjusted earnings came in at 56 cents per share, beating estimates by 8 cents. Sales came in at $4.87 billion, beating estimates by $310 million. The company guided to first-quarter adjusted EPS of 39-53 cents and sales of $4.8-$5.2 billion.


Equities Trading UP

LATAM Airlines Group S.A. LTM shares shot up 30% to $11.76. Delta Air Lines plans to take a 20 percent ownership of LATAM Airlines with a $1.9 billion investment in the Chilean-based airline that positions it to make inroads against American Airlines Group in Latin America.

Shares of Arcus Biosciences, Inc. RCUS got a boost, shooting up 16% to $10.21 after Mizuho initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $22 per share.

GoPro, Inc. GPRO shares were also up, gaining 8% to $5.03.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aytu BioScience, Inc. AYTU shares tumbled 7% to $1.28 after reporting FY19 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Progress Software Corporation. PRGS were down 9% to $38.28 after the company issued Q4 and FY19 sales guidance below analyst guidance.

Micron Technology, Inc. MU was down, falling 11% to $43.07. Micron reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter. The company guided to first-quarter adjusted EPS of 39-53 cents and sales of $4.8-$5.2 billion.
 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1% to $55.86, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,505.00.

Silver traded down 1.9% Friday to $17.565, while copper rose 0.7% to $2.5955.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.47%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.32%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.75%, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.36% while UK shares rose 1.02%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders rose 0.2% for August.

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.1% for August, while income increased 0.4%.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 93.2 in September, compared to preliminary reading of 92.0.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 6 to 713 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.