Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 3%; Infosys Shares Slide On News Of CEO Resignation

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 21,736.34 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.20 percent to 6,234.56. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,432.54.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the utilities shares climbed by 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Calpine Corporation CPN, up 10 percent, and Empresa Distribuidora y Cmrz Nrt SA(ADR) EDN, up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.21 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Foot Locker, Inc. FL, down 27 percent, and Genesco Inc. GCO down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Foot Locker earned 62 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $1.70 billion. Analysts were expecting the shoe and apparel retailer to earn 90 cents per share on revenue of $1.80 billion.

During the quarter Foot Locker opened 24 new stores, remodeled or relocated 38 others and closed 19 and ended the quarter with 3,359 stores in 23 countries.

Equities Trading UP

Sportsman's Warehouse Holdings Inc SPWH shares shot up 30 percent to $4.51 after the company posted upbeat Q2 profit.

Shares of MagneGas Corporation MNGA got a boost, shooting up 41 percent to $0.691. MagneGas reported Q2 preliminary gross profit of $433,547, and revenue of $966,204.

Calpine Corporation CPN shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $14.85 after the company agreed to be acquired by investor consortium led by Energy Capital Partners for $15.25 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Foot Locker, Inc. FL shares dropped 27 percent to $35.01 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Shares of Matson, Inc. MATX were down 23 percent to $22.60. Stephens & Co. downgraded Matson from Overweight to Equal-Weight.

Infosys Ltd ADR INFY was down, falling around 8 percent to $14.72 after the company announced the resignation of its CEO Dr. Vishal Sikka.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3 percent to $48.51 while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,290.80.

Silver traded down 0.40 percent Friday to $16.985, while copper fell 0.02 percent to $2.9605.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.71 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.12 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.31 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.64 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.86 percent.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 97.6 for August, versus prior reading of 93.4.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs declined by 5 to 763 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.