Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls Over 50 Points; SMART Global Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.23 percent to 24,725.90 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.22 percent to 6,950.01. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.16 percent to 2,680.30.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares fell 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP, down 6 percent, and Pacific Biosciences of California PACB down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Nike Inc NKE posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Thursday.

The Beaverton-based company reported second quarter earnings of 46 cents per share, beating estimates by 6 cents. Revenues came in at $8.6 billion, topping estimates by $200 million.

Equities Trading UP

Ignyta Inc RXDX shares shot up 72 percent to $26.77 after Roche agreed to acquire Ignyta for $27.00 per share in cash.

Shares of China Lending Corp CLDC got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $3.54. China Lending reported a 2.23 million share offering by selling shareholders.

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. SGH shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $33.89 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and also issued strong second-quarter guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Agile Therapeutics Inc AGRX shares dropped 52 percent to $2.29 after the company reported the receipt of a CRL from the FDA for Twirla NDA. The FDA said it cannot approve the NDA 'in its present form.'

Shares of ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd CCIH were down 18 percent to $1.75 amid weakness in Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency market. ChinaCache reported six-month loss of $0.64 per share on sales of $60.4 million.

Net Element International Inc NETE was down, falling around 23 percent to $14.39.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.24 percent to $58.22 while gold traded up 0.61 percent to $1,278.30.

Silver traded up 1.27 percent Friday to $16.445, while copper rose 0.64 percent to $3.24.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.19 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.39 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.15 percent.

Economics

Durable-goods orders gained 1.3 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 2 percent growth.

U.S. consumer spending gained 0.6 percent in November, while personal income rose 0.3 percent.

New home sales rose 17.5 percent to an annual rate of 733,000 in November.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index slipped to 95.9 in December, from November’s reading of 98.5. Economists expected a reading of 97.1.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index declined to 14.00 for November, versus prior reading of 16.00.