Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1%; Forward Industries Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 25,988.71 while the NASDAQ gained 0.42 percent to 7,326.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 2,804.20.

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, energy shares fell 0.32 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Enduro Royalty Trust NDRO, down 7 percent, and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Schlumberger Limited. SLB posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Schlumberger posted adjusted earnings of $0.48 per share in the quarter on revenue of $8.2 billion which exceeded Wall Street's expectations for $0.44 per share and $8.13 billion.

Equities Trading UP

NuCana PLC (ADR) NCNA shares shot up 54 percent to $22.28 as the company announced plans to initiate a Phase 3 study of Acelarin in front-line advanced biliary tract cancer.

Shares of Forward Industries, Inc. FORD got a boost, shooting up 160 percent to $3.23 after the company reported the acquisition of Intelligent Product Solutions.

Sientra Inc SIEN shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $11.86. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Sientra from Hold to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

PAVmed Inc. PAVM shares dropped 30 percent to $1.78 after the company reported public offering of common stock.

Shares of Obalon Therapeutics, Inc. OBLN were down 13 percent to $5.34 after the company priced public offering of common stock.

Inphi Corporation IPHI was down, falling around 7 percent to $33.06. Morgan Stanley downgraded Inphi from Overweight to Equal-Weight, while Bank of America downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1 percent to $63.31 while gold traded up 0.56 percent to $1,334.60.

Silver traded up 0.71 percent Friday to $17.075, while copper fell 0.38 percent to $3.187.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.54 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.50 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.58 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.39 percent.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to a reading of 94.4 in January. However, economists expected a reading of 98.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs dropped by 5 to 747 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.