Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; NVIDIA Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.07% to 29402.70 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 9,716.50. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 3,373.51.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.5% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. PLYM, up 3%, and CoreSite Realty Corporation COR, up 3%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Nvidia reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.89 per share on Thursday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.66. The company reported quarterly sales of $3.105 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.96 billion.

Equities Trading UP

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. BTAI shares shot up 37% to $32.63 after analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and raised their price target from $24 to $150 per share.

Shares of Genprex, Inc. GNPX got a boost, shooting 70% to $4.6505 after climbing 51.38% on Thursday.

ImmunoGen, Inc. IMGN shares were also up, gaining 19% to $6.35 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued FY20 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pulse Biosciences, Inc. PLSE shares tumbled 37% to $7.69 after the company announced it received a letter from the FDA indicating that the company has not demonstrated that its CellFX System is substantially equivalent to a predicate device. H.C. Wainwright downgraded Pulse Biosciences from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of CarGurus, Inc. CARG were down 26% to $25.12 after the company issued Q1 and FY20 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates. BTIG Research downgraded CarGurus from Buy to Neutral.

LivePerson, Inc. LPSN was down, falling 24% to $34.03 after the company issued Q1 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates. Oppenheimer downgraded LivePerson from Outperform to Perform.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $52.14, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,578.60.

Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $17.66, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.5995.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.3%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.1%.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% for January, versus a revised 0.2% increase in December.

U.S import prices were unchanged in January, versus a revised 0.2% rise in December. Export prices rose 0.7% in January, following a 0.2% declined in the previous month.

U.S. industrial production dropped fell 0.3% in January, versus a 0.4% fall in December.

U.S. business inventories increased 0.1% in December, versus a 0.2% decline in November.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index climbed to 100.9 in February, versus a reading of 99.8 in January.

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