Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Buckle Earnings Top Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.40% to 32,616.64 while the NASDAQ fell 1.25% to 13,231.51. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.32% to 3,926.90.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,286,720 cases with around 530,820 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 11,308,840 confirmed cases and 158,300 deaths, while Brazil reported over 11,277,710 COVID-19 cases with 272,880 deaths. In total, there were at least 118,671,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 2,631,750 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 1.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LendingClub Corporation LC, up 9%, and Community West Bancshares CWBC, up 10%.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

The Buckle, Inc. BKE reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Friday.

Buckle reported quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, which beat the analysts’ estimates of $1.26 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $318.80 million which met analysts’ expectations. Its same-store sales jumped 18% year-over-year last quarter.

 

Equities Trading UP

NLS Pharmaceutics AG NLSP shares shot up 130% to $6.52 in reaction to a License Agreement with Novartis Pharma AG, a unit of Novartis, wherein NLS secured an exclusive license to Sanorex (mazindol) in the U.S.

Shares of Entera Bio Ltd. ENTX got a boost, shooting 113% to $8.63. Entera Bio shares climbed over 152% on Thursday after the company disclosed positive topline EB613 Phase 2 biomarker data.

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. SEEL shares were also up, gaining 30% to $3.95 after BTIG initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $14 per share.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Marker Therapeutics, Inc. MRKR shares tumbled 28% to $1.825 after the company priced its common stock offering of 28.572 million shares at $1.75 per share.

Shares of Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. IMH were down 22% to $2.3250 after the company swung to a loss in the fourth quarter.

Evoke Pharma, Inc. EVOK was down, falling 23% to $2.3942 after the company reported Q4 earnings results.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $65.76, while gold traded down 1.3% to $1,700.50.

Silver traded down 2.4% Friday to $25.56 while copper fell 1% to $4.0960.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and the German DAX 30 dropped 0.8%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.3%.

Industrial production in the Eurozone increased 0.8% in January following a revised 0.1% decline in December. Spain’s consumer prices came in unchanged from the prior year for February, while retail sales dipped 9.5% year-over-year in January. Annual inflation rate in Germany increased to 1.3% in February.

Imports to the UK tumbled 18.5% to GBP 43 billion in January, while exports plunged 18.2% to GBP 41.4 billion. Britain's gross domestic product contracted 1.7% during the three months to January, while industrial production declined 1.5% in January.

 

Economics

Producer prices for final demand increased 0.5% in February.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 83 in March from 76.8 in February.

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

Check out the full economic calendar here