Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Abercrombie & Fitch Beats Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.80 percent to 24,610.87 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.89 percent to 7,508.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.83 percent to 2,727.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the financial shares surged 1.51 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ambac Financial Group, Inc. AMBC, up 7 percent, and PDL Community Bancorp PDLB up 4 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.86 percent.

Top Headline

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF posted stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch posted adjusted loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $730.899 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.77 per share on revenue of $696.18 million. Its same-store growth rose 5 percent during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited CLWT shares shot up 40 percent to $5.3750 after the company declared a $0.70 per share special dividend.

Shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. SLS got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $5.9165 after the company disclosed that its Phase 2b trial of NeuVax in combo with Trastuzumab in HER1+/2+ breast cancer patients met key clinical objectives.

Co-Diagnostics, Inc. CODX shares were also up, gaining 59 percent to $4.614. Co-Diagnostics reported its participation in a research project with the Stanford University.

Equities Trading DOWN

Kitov Pharma Ltd KTOV shares dropped 16 percent to $2.56. Kitov Pharma priced its 3.26 million ADS offering at $2.50 per ADS.

Shares of Ambow Education Holding Ltd. GLNG were down 28 percent to $4.10.

Big Lots, Inc. BIG was down, falling around 9 percent to $37.35 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued downbeat earnings forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.85 percent to $66.47 while gold traded down 0.41 percent to $1,299.30.

Silver traded down 0.29 percent Friday to $16.41, while copper rose 0.03 to $3.066.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.97 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 2.47 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.27 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.66 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 223,000 new jobs in May, while unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent. Economists were expecting a gain of 189.000 jobs in May.

The Markit manufacturing PMI fell to 56.40 for May, versus prior reading of 56.60. Economists projected a reading of 56.60.

U.S. construction spending rose 1.8 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.9 percent gain.

The ISM manufacturing index gained to 58.70 for May, versus previous reading of 57.30. Economists expected a reading of 58.20.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.