Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Silicon Motion Raises Q3 Forecast

 


Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 18,231.52 while the NASDAQ declined 0.19 percent to 5,296.78. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.20 percent to 2,156.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, utilities shares gained by 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NextEra Energy Inc NEE, and Atlantic Power Corp AT.

In trading on Friday, industrial shares tumbled by 0.89 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Honeywell International Inc. HON, down 8 percent, and First Solar, Inc. FSLR, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (ADR) SIMO lifted its outlook for the third quarter.

The company indicated that its revenue growth would likely be 11–13 percent sequentially compared to its initial guidance of 0–5 percent disclosed on July 22. Similarly, adjusted gross margin forecast is increased to 48–49 percent from the earlier outlook of 46–48 percent.

Silicon Motion will release its third quarter results on October 27 after the market closes; the conference call is scheduled for the next day.

Equities Trading UP

Lipocine Inc LPCN shares shot up 29 percent to $5.37. H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on Lipocine with a Buy rating and a $25.00 price target.

Shares of Viveve Medical Inc VIVE got a boost, shooting up 8 percent to $7.47 after the company reported the FDA clearance for the Viveve System.

Gap Inc GPS shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $26.40. Gap reported a 3 percent decline in its September same-store sales. Its total sales for the month fell 2 percent.


Equities Trading DOWN

Clovis Oncology Inc CLVS shares dropped 18 percent to $29.48 after the company disclosed its oral presentation of the primary efficacy and safety data for rucaparib from its NDA dataset at the 2016 ESMO Congress. The company indicated that the drug candidate is under FDA's priority review for the treatment of monotherapy of advanced ovarian cancer in patients with BRCA-mutated tumors inclusive of germline and somatic BRCA mutations. The submission date for PDUFA is February 23, 2017.

Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX were down 10 percent to $1.69 after the company disclosed that it has rescheduled its 4th annual Investor and Analyst Meeting.

Biostage Inc BSTG was down, falling around 11 percent to $0.982 after the company issued a regulatory update on Cellspan Esophageal Implant.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.08 percent to $50.40 while gold traded up 0.97 percent to $1,265.10.

Silver traded up 1.64 percent Friday to $17.63, while copper rose 1.09 percent to $2.18.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.87 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.30 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.28 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.34 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.24 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.78 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 156,000 new jobs in September, while the unemployment rate increased to 5 percent from 4.9 percent. Economists were expecting an addition of 175,000 jobs for September.

U.S. wholesale inventories declined 0.20 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.10 percent drop.

Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer is set speak in Washington DC at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester will speak in New York at 12:45 p.m. ET.

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

Kansas City Fed's Esther George is set to speak in Washington DC at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for August will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard will speak in Washington DC at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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