Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higehr; Big Lots Beats Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.13 percent to 17,851.58 while the NASDAQ gained 0.19 percent to 4,911.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18 percent to 2,093.88. Leading and Lagging Sectors Cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.39 percent in trading on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included Big Lots, Inc. BIG, Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA, and Radio One, Inc. ROIAK. In trading on Friday, energy shares dropped by 0.64 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cobalt International Energy, Inc. CIE, down 8 percent, and Isramco, Inc. ISRL, down 6 percent. Top Headline Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter and raised its full-year forecast. Big Lots delivered earnings of $0.79 per share, up from $0.60 per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding adjustments, it would have delivered income from continuing operations of $0.82 per share. Street analysts estimated the retailer to earn $0.70 a share. Its sales grew 2.34 percent to $1.31 billion from $1.28 billion in the previous year quarter. Analysts predicted revenue of $1.3 billion. Its comparable store sales grew three percent. For the full year, the retailer sees adjusted income from continuing operations to be $3.35 - $3.50 a share representing 11 – 16 percent increase over the last year's adjusted EPS of $3.01. Equities Trading UP Relypsa Inc RLYP shares shot up 21 percent to $20.01. According to the TheStreet'sAdam Feuerstein, Relypisa scored a "big win" on Friday after its chief rival AstraZeneca plc (ADR) AZN confirmed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a Complete Response Letter (CRL) concerning its hyoperkalaemia treatment known as ZS-9. Feuerstein suggested that AstraZeneca's setback is "fantastic news" for Relypsa, who just secured FDA approval for its rival drug Veltassa last October. Shares of Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTNP got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $8.30 as the company reported the FDA approval for Probuphine. FEI Company FEIC shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $107.37 as the company agreed to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO for $4.2 billion. Equities Trading DOWN Hercules Offshore, Inc. HERO shares dropped 48 percent to $1.00 as the company reported that it has entered into a restructuring support agreement with lenders. Shares of UniPixel Inc UNXL were down 26 percent to $1.53 after the company announced a public offering of newly issued shares of stock. UniPixel plans to offer 5.35 million shares of its own stock at a public offering price of $1.50 per share with the option for its underwriters to purchase up to an additional 802,500 shares. Terex Corporation TEX was down, falling around 20 percent to $19.40 as the company revealed discussions with Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. in respect of the purchase of Terex, either with or without the MHPS segment, were terminated. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.71 percent to $49.13 while gold traded up 0.08 percent to $1,223.70. Silver traded up 0.01 percent Friday to $16.35, while copper rose 1.17 percent to $2.13. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.28 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.12 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.05 percent. Economics The U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 0.8 percent in the first quarter. However, economists were expecting a 0.9 percent growth. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 94.70 in May, versus a final April reading of 89.00. Economists were projecting a reading of 95.40.