Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 4%; WillScot Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.64 percent to 24,617.90 while the NASDAQ declined 0.18 percent to 7,698.77. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39 percent to 2,760.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the energy shares surged 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Denbury Resources Inc. DNR up 11 percent, and California Resources Corporation CRC up 13 percent.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 0.56 percent.

Top Headline

Kroger Co KR reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

The company said it earned 73 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $37.53 billion versus expectations of 63 cents and $37.33 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. TNDM shares shot up 14 percent to $23.18 after the company reported the FDA approval of the t:slim X2 Insulin Pump with Basal-IQ technology.

Shares of Ability Inc. ABIL got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $5.58 after surging 110.65 percent on Thursday.

WillScot Corporation WSC shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $14.35 after the company announced plans to acquire ModSpace for an enterprise value of $1.1 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Green Brick Partners, Inc. GRBK shares dropped 12 percent to $9.125. Green Brick priced its 7.1 million share common stock offering at $9.50 per share

Shares of Red Hat, Inc. RHT were down 11 percent to $147.175. Red Hat reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but lowered its revenue forecast for the full year. The company announced a $1 billion buyback.

Sigma Labs, Inc. SGLB was down, falling around 16 percent to $0.89. Sigma Labs priced its 2.39 million unit offering at $1.00 per unit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.1 percent to $68.23 while gold traded up 0.06 percent to $1,271.20.

Silver traded up 0.48 percent Friday to $16.405, while copper fell 0.11 to $3.04.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.96 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.71 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.77 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.23 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.74 percent.

Economics

The Markit manufacturing PMI dropped to 54.6 in June, compared to 56.5. The services PMI declined to a reading of 56.5 from 56.8.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.