Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises Over 100 Points; LATAM Airlines Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.40% to 26998.17 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 8034.64. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.21% to 2983.93.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Grupo Supervielle S.A. SUPV, up 7%, and Goosehead Insurance, Inc GSHD, up 4%.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Micron Technology, Inc. MU reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Adjusted earnings came in at 56 cents per share, beating estimates by 8 cents. Sales came in at $4.87 billion, beating estimates by $310 million. The company guided to first-quarter adjusted EPS of 39-53 cents and sales of $4.8-$5.2 billion.


Equities Trading UP

LATAM Airlines Group S.A. LTM shares shot up 31% to $11.84. Delta Air Lines plans to take a 20 percent ownership of LATAM Airlines with a $1.9 billion investment in the Chilean-based airline that positions it to make inroads against American Airlines Group in Latin America.

Shares of Contango Oil & Gas Company MCF got a boost, shooting up 8% to $2.72 after the company reported signing of deal to buy assets of White Star Petroleum for $132.5 million.

GoPro, Inc. GPRO shares were also up, gaining 11% to $5.18.

Equities Trading DOWN

Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. GIFI shares tumbled 11% to $5.04. The Pennant Group will replace Gulf Island Fabrication, which will be removed from the S&P SmallCap 600 effective Wednesday, October 2.

Shares of Progress Software Corporation. PRGS were down 10% to $37.77 after the company issued Q4 and FY19 sales guidance below analyst guidance.

Micron Technology, Inc. MU was down, falling 9% to $44.25. Micron reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter. The company guided to first-quarter adjusted EPS of 39-53 cents and sales of $4.8-$5.2 billion.
 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $56.62, while gold traded down 1.1% to $1,498.80.

Silver traded down 2.4% Friday to $17.485, while copper rose 1.3% to $2.6115.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.49%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.14%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.66%, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.25% while UK shares rose 1%.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders rose 0.2% for August.

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.1% for August, while income increased 0.4%.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 93.2 in September, compared to preliminary reading of 92.0.

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

Data on farm prices for August will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.