Mid-Day Market Update: Restoration Hardware Surges On Earnings; Endocyte Shares Drop

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.73 percent to 16,382.66 while the NASDAQ surged 0.93 percent to 4,189.98. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.78 percent to 1,863.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Friday, with Parametric Sound PAMT leading advancers after the company provided post merger update and outlook. Among the leading sector stocks, gains came from 21Vianet Group VNET, BlackBerry BBRY, Canadian Solar CSIQ, and Veeco Instruments VECO.
In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.06 percent. Among the sector stocks, Exterran Partners LP EXLP was down more than 4.8 percent, while PG&E PCG tumbled around 3.75 percent.
Top Headline
BlackBerry BBRY posted a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.
BlackBerry posted a quarterly net loss of $423 million, or $0.80 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $98 million, or $0.19 per share. Its loss from continuing operations came in at $423 million, or $0.80 per share, compared to a year-ago profit of $94 million, or $0.18 per share. BlackBerry’s adjusted loss from continuing operations came in at $0.08 per share.
Its revenue slipped 64% to $976 million. However, analysts were estimating a loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $1.17 billion. BlackBerry sold around 3.4 million smartphones in the quarter.
Equities Trading UP
Finish Line FINL shares shot up 3.64 percent to $27.44 after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Shares of Restoration Hardware Holdings RH got a boost, shooting up 12.30 percent to $71.66 after the company reported adjusted Q4 earnings of $0.83 per share on revenue of $471.7 million. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $491.3 million. The company also issued a strong first-quarter profit forecast.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals ARIA was also up, gaining 7.43 percent to $8.16 on a report from the UK Daily Mail that Jazz Pharmaceuticals is willing to pay $20.00 per share for the maker of Iclusig.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Aviva plc AV were down 5.40 percent to $15.24 after the company announced its plans to sell US equity manager River Road to Affiliated Managers Group.

Caesars Entertainment CZR shares tumbled 6.83 percent to $19.64 after the company announced an offering of 7 million shares of common stock.

Endocyte ECYT was down, falling 5.16 percent to $21.88 after the company priced 4.5 million shares of its common stock at $21.00 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.38 percent to $101.66, while gold traded down 0.19 percent to $1,292.30.
Silver traded up 0.31 percent Friday to $19.77, while copper rose 1.64 percent to $3.04.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.30 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 1.05 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.51 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.35 percent.

Economics
US consumer spending rose 0.3%, while personal income climbed 0.3% in February. However, economists were expecting a 0.3% increase in spending and a 0.3% gain in personal income.
The final reading of the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 80.00 in March, versus a preliminary March reading of 79.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 80.50.
Data on farm prices for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.