Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Buckle Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.30 percent to 24,949.12 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.30 percent to 7,504.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39 percent to 2,758.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the financial shares gained 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Hennessy Advisors, Inc. HNNA, up 4 percent, and Brighthouse Financial, Inc. BHF, up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 0.16 percent.

Top Headline

Buckle Inc BKE reporting better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

The company earned $0.87 per share on revenue of $281.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $279.5 million.

Equities Trading UP

Zosano Pharma Corporation ZSAN shares shot up 19 percent to $18.40 as the company disclosed that it has reached enrollment milestone in M207-ADAM long-term safety study.

Shares of Qualstar Corporation QBAK got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $10.9932 after reporting fourth quarter earnings of 33 cents per share, up from a loss of 20 cents in the same quarter of last year. Sales came in at $3.2 million, up from $2.2 million a year prior.

Teligent, Inc. TLGT shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $3.14. Teligent reported a Q4 loss of $0.11 per share on sales of $16.101 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Purple Innovation, Inc. PRPL shares dropped 26 percent to $9.74 after a report that CEO Sam Bernards stepped down. Co-Founder and Chair Terry Pearce was named interim replacement. Purple Innovation reported a Q4 loss of $2 million on sales of $63 million.

Shares of Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EXXI were down 18 percent to $4.42. Energy XXI Gulf Coast reported Q4 loss of $6.47 per share on revenue of $93.8 million.

Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK was down, falling around 11 percent to $42.8252 after reporting fourth quarter EPS loss of $3.72. Sales came in at $456.29 million, missing estimates by $70 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.33 percent to $61.39 while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,320.00.

Silver traded up 0.17 percent Friday to $16.45, while copper rose 0.45 percent to $3.1415.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.35 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.50 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.24 percent.

Economics

Housing starts fell 7 percent to an annual rate of 1.24 million in February, versus a revised 1.33 million in January. Economists projected starts to reach 1.29 million last month.

Industrial production rose 1.1 percent for February, beating economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent gain.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 102 in March, versus a reading of 99.7 in February.

The number of job openings rose to 6.31 million in January.

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