Mid-Day Market Update: Nike Gains On Upbeat Earnings; Dollar General Shares Slip

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 16,821.34 while the NASDAQ surged 0.18 percent to 4,386.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 1,957.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Friday, technology shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.31 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Aware AWRE, up 15.4 percent, and Progress Software PRGS, up 7.7 percent.

Energy shares dropped around 0.22 percent in today’s trading. Top decliners in the sector included Daqo New Energy DQ, PDC Energy PDCE, and YPF SA YPF.

Top Headline

Finish Line FINL reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings.

Finish Line’s quarterly profit surged to $12.4 million, or $0.25 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $5.1 million, or $0.10 per share. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.28 per share.

Its sales climbed 16% to $406.5 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.21 per share on sales of $394 million.

Equities Trading UP

Progress Software PRGS shares shot up 7.85 percent to $23.99 after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and issued an upbeat outlook.

Shares of Nike NKE got a boost, shooting up 1.55 percent to $78.05 after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Nike posted its quarterly earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $7.43 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.75 per share on revenue of $7.34 billion.

The Manitowoc Company MTW shares were also up, gaining 8.65 percent to $32.28 after Relational Investors bought an 8.5% stake in the company and urged for splitting it in two. Jefferies upgraded Manitowoc from Underperform to Hold and raised the price target from $24.00 to $33.00.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Commercial Metals Company CMC were 2.49 percent to $17.64 on FQ3 results. Commercial Metals posted a quarterly profit of $23.6 million, or $0.20 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $19 million, or $0.16 per share.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company DD shares tumbled 4.36 percent to $64.75 after the company cut its profit guidance for the second-quarter and year.

Dollar General DG was down, falling 6.78 percent to $57.50 after the company’s CEO Rick Dreiling announced his plans to retire.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.20 percent to $105.63, while gold traded up 0.31 percent to $1,321.10.

Silver traded up 0.04 percent Friday to $21.17, while copper rose 0.06 percent to $3.17.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.30 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.30 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.11 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 0.06 percent while UK shares gained 0.42 percent.

Economics

The final reading of Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index surged to 82.5 in June, versus a final reading of 81.9 in May. However, economists were projecting a final reading of 81.9.

Data on farm prices for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.