Mid-Day Market Update: National Instruments Rises Following Strong Q3 Results; Aquantia Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 1.94 percent to 24,499.04 while the NASDAQ declined 3.4 percent to 7,069.74. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.65 percent to 2,634.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the utilities shares slipped by just 1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobras EBR up 2 percent, and Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais CIG up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares tumbled 4.5 percent.

Top Headline

Alphabet Inc GOOG reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Earnings came in at $13.06, beating estimates by $2.60. Sales came in at $33.74 billion, missing estimates by $290 million.

Equities Trading UP

Yulong Eco-Materials Ltd YECO shares shot up 77 percent to $7.66.

Shares of Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. MLNX got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $83.92. Mellanox Technologies has hired a financial adviser to explore a sale after receiving takeover interest from at least two companies, CNBC reported.

National Instruments Corporation NATI shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $48.77 after the company posted upbeat Q3 results. National Instruments named Eric Starkloff as President and COO.

Equities Trading DOWN

Flex Ltd. FLEX shares dropped 34 percent to $7.18 after the company reported mixed Q2 earnings and issued weak FY19 guidance.

Shares of Aquantia Corp AQ were down 25 percent to $8.01 after the company reported Q3 results.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP was down, falling around 72 percent to $0.39 after the company reported it will need to pay $38 million-$51 million in penalties if sales of TRULANCE do not meet the minimum amount required per its contract with CRG.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8 percent to $66.79 while gold traded up 0.54 percent to $1,239.10.

Silver traded up 0.62 percent Friday to $14.72, while copper fell 0.85 to $2.731.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.77 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.58 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.83 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 2.04 percent, and the French CAC 40 dipped 2.5 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.99 percent.

Economics

U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, versus 4.2 percent pace in the previous three months. However, economists were expecting a 3.3 percent growth rate.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 98.6 for October, versus 100.1 in the previous month and preliminary reading of 99.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.