Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises Over 250 Points; AutoWeb Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.02 percent to 25,149.81 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.03 percent to 7,504.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.98 percent to 2,765.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the industrial shares gained 1.25 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Willdan Group, Inc. WLDN, up 15 percent, and Hurco Companies, Inc. HURC, up 12 percent.

In trading on Friday, telecommunications services shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included UTStarcom Holdings Corp UTSI, down 11 percent, and IDT Corporation IDT down 5 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

Spark Energy Inc SPKE shares shot up 17 percent to $10.10 after the company reported financial results for the fourth quarter and engaged Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to evaluate strategic alternatives.

Shares of Coherus Biosciences Inc CHRS got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $11.48 following Q4 results. Coherus BioSciences reported a Q4 loss of $0.84 per share.

PDL BioPharma Inc PDLI shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $3.00 as the company reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Autoweb Inc AUTO shares dropped 41 percent to $3.98 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 40 percent to $4.45. Sunesis Pharma reported a Q4 loss of $0.21 per share.

VolitionRX Ltd VNRX was down, falling around 19 percent to $2.37 after the company disclosed a proposed offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.68 percent to $61.13 while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,322.00.

Silver traded up 0.61 percent Friday to $16.60, while copper rose 1.79 percent to $3.134.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.37 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.11 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.12 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.30 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.17 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 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.