Mid-Day Market Update: Omeros Climbs After Strong Q3 Results; LightPath Technologies Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.22 percent to 23,411.21 while the NASDAQ declined 0.22 percent to 6,735.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.28 percent to 2,577.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.54 percent.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares fell 0.92 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI, down 9 percent, and Fonar Corporation FONR down 7 percent.

Top Headline

J C Penney Company Inc JCP reported strong sales for its third quarter.

J C Penney posted quarterly adjusted loss of $0.33 per share on revenue of $2.81 billion. However, analysts were expecting revenue of $2.74 billion. Its comparable sales climbed 1.7 percent during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU shares shot up 17 percent to $12.20. Immunomedics reported a Q1 loss of $0.97 per share on sales of $700,000. The company also named Michael Pehl as President and CEO.

Shares of Omeros Corporation OMER got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $18.77 after the company reported strong results for its third quarter.

Avid Technology, Inc. AVID shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $5.02 following Q3 results. Avid Technology reported Q3 earnings of $0.00 per share on revenue of $105.26 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

LightPath Technologies, Inc. LPTH shares dropped 19 percent to $3.01 following fiscal 2018 first quarter results. Net income for the quarter was around $218,000, versus $140,000 in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of Esterline Technologies Corporation ESL were down 20 percent to $71.25 after missing fourth-quarter earnings and sales estimates. The company issued FY17 earnings guidance far below analyst estimates at $3.65-$4.05.

Kona Grill Inc KONA was down, falling around 18 percent to $2.17 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.07 percent to $57.21 while gold traded down 0.18 percent to $1,285.20.

Silver traded up 0.47 percent Friday to $17.055, while copper fell 0.16 percent to $3.081.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.34 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.29 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.29 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.43 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.81 percent.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 97.80 in November, versus prior reading of 100.70. Economists expected a reading of 100.70.