Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Costco Earnings Beat Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 22,768.58 while the NASDAQ declined 0.01 percent to 6,584.79. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.11 percent to 2,549.20.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the healthcare shares surged 0.11 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Keryx Biopharmaceuticals KERX, up 9 percent, and MediciNova, Inc. MNOV, up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 1.11 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc HLX, down 5 percent, and Baytex Energy Corp (USA) BTE down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Costco Wholesale Corporation COST reported better-than-expected profit for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Costco reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $2.08 per share on sales of $42.3 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.02 per share on sales of $41.6 billion.

Costco reported a 5.7 percent rise in Q4 same-store sales.

Equities Trading UP

Omega Protein Corporation OME shares shot up 33 percent to $22.00 after the company after the company agreed to be acquired for $22 per share by Cooke.

Shares of Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. SNCR got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $13.50 after the company disclosed that it was restarting talks with Siris Capital regarding a potential deal.

22nd Century Group Inc XXII shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $3.43 as the company disclosed that Phase III study using the company’s SPECTRUM® research cigarettes demonstrated immediate reduction to very low nicotine is most likely to lead to less harm.

Equities Trading DOWN

Alliqua Biomedical Inc ALQA shares dropped 15 percent to $2.86. Alliqua Biomedical reported a 1-for-10 reverse stock split.

Shares of Sanderson Farms, Inc. SAFM were down 6 percent to $150.12. JP Morgan downgraded Sanderson Farms from Neutral to Underweight.

Darling Ingredients Inc DAR was down, falling around 8 percent to $16.38. JP Morgan downgraded Darling Ingredients from Overweight to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.15 percent to $49.70 while gold traded down 0.38 percent to $1,268.30.

Silver traded down 0.20 percent Friday to $16.605, while copper fell 0.33 percent to $3.0365.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.22 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.62 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.10 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.18 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.21 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy lost 33,000 jobs in September. However, economists were expecting a gain of 90,000 nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate declined to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.90 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.00 percent growth.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley will speak in New York at 12:15 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Austin at 12:45 p.m. ET.

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

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will speak in St. Louis at 1:50 p.m. ET.

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