Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Finisar Earnings Miss Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.66 percent to 25,058.55 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.77 percent to 7,485.51. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.76 percent to 2,759.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the energy shares gained 1.04 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Enduro Royalty Trust NDRO, up 9 percent, and CGG SA (ADR) CGG, up 6 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.16 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG, down 3 percent, and Exelon Corporation EXC down 1 percent.

Top Headline

Finisar Corporation FNSR reported downbeat results for its third quarter and issued weak guidance on Thursday.

Adjusted earnings came in at 20 cents per share, missing estimates by 3 cents. Sales fell short of estimates by $1 million, coming in at $332 million.

The company also guided its fiscal fourth quarter EPS and revenue below the Street's expectations.

Equities Trading UP

Party City Holdco Inc PRTY shares shot up 12 percent to $16.25 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Coherus Biosciences Inc CHRS got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $11.07 following Q4 results. Coherus BioSciences reported a Q4 loss of $0.84 per share.

PDL BioPharma Inc PDLI shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $2.96 as the company reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Autoweb Inc AUTO shares dropped 38 percent to $4.23 following a fourth quarter sales miss. Adjusted earnings came in at a penny, down from 35 cents per share in the same quarter of last year. It was also announced company CEO Jeff Coats and CFO Kimberly Boren are stepping down. Wesley Ozima was named interim CEO.

Shares of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNSS were down 33 percent to $4.93. Sunesis Pharma reported a Q4 loss of $0.21 per share.

VolitionRX Ltd VNRX was down, falling around 17 percent to $2.39 after the company disclosed a proposed offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.18 percent to $60.83 while gold traded down 0.32 percent to $1,317.50.

Silver traded down 0.30 percent Friday to $16.45, while copper rose 0.75 percent to $3.102.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.05 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.46 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.01 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.22 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 313,000 new jobs in February. However, economists were expecting a gain of 222,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent for February.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.80 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.70 percent gain.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in a live interview at 10:45 a.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in New York 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.