Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Skechers Surges On Upbeat Earnings; J C Penney Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.17% to 27,268.35 while the NASDAQ fell 0.15% to 8,195.14. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08% to 2,992.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares rose 0.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Safe Bulkers, Inc. SB, up 12%, and Marten Transport, Ltd. MRTN, up 11%.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

American Express Company AXP reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

American Express reported second quarter earnings of $2.07 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.04. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.84 billion, versus the analyst consensus estimate of $10.82 billion. American Express affirmed its outlook for 2019.

Equities Trading UP

Midatech Pharma Plc MTP shares shot up 45% to $1.89 after the company announced positive results from a first in human study of its MTX102 immuno-tolerising vaccine product candidate in diabetes.

Shares of Gannett Co., Inc. GCI got a boost, shooting up 18% to $9.30 after a report of talks to merge with GateHouse. The deal could be announced in the next few weeks.

Skechers USA Inc SKX shares were also up, gaining 13% to $39.14 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and issued strong third-quarter guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Jaguar Health, Inc. JAGX shares tumbled 23% to $1.99 following pricing of a 1.8 million Class A unit offering at $2 per unit.

Shares of J C Penney Company Inc JCP were down 17% to $0.90 after Reuters reported the struggling department store may have hired debt restructuring experts. JC Penney tasked experts to explore options that would give the company more time to oversee a turnaround in the face of $4 billion of debt which needs to be addressed in the coming years, sources told Reuters.

QEP Resources, Inc. QEP was down, falling 20% to $5.02 amid reports Elliott Management has cut the price of its takeover bid.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $55.83, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,423.10.

Silver traded down 0.5% Friday to $16.12, while copper rose 1.3% to $2.746.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.12%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 2.03%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.26%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.03% while UK shares rose 0.21%.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to a 98.4 in July, versus previous reading of 98.2.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 5 to 779 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren will speak in New York City, New York at 4:30 p.m. ET.