Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Xerox Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.61 percent to 16,979.35 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.40 percent to 4,454.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.31 percent to 1,981.83.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares rose 0.19 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included DRDGOLD DRD, up 7 percent, and LyondellBasell Industries NV LYB, up 4.3 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.63 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Basic Energy Services BAS, down 7.7 percent, and EQT EQT, off 4.3 percent.

Top Headline

Xerox XRX reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and raised the lower end of its full-year earnings forecast.

The Norwalk, Connecticut-based company reported a quarterly profit of $266 million, versus a year-ago profit of $271 million. Its per-share earnings climbed to $0.22 from $0.21 per share. The year-ago quarter results included a loss of $0.02 per share related to discontinued operations. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.27 per share in the recent quarter.

Its revenue declined 1.8% to $5.29 billion from $5.39 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.26 per share on revenue of $5.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Acacia Research ACTG shares shot up 14.09 percent to $17.09 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and approved a $0.125 per share quarterly dividend.

Shares of Qlik Technologies QLIK got a boost, shooting up 12.18 percent to $26.24 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc RBS shares were also up, gaining 11.36 percent to $12.45 on strong earnings report.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Pandora Media P were down 14.31 percent to $24.61 after the company announced slower than expected growth metrics. Pandora’s earnings beat the official analyst estimate by $0.01 per share at $0.04 per share. The company also raised its full-year forecast.

Amazon.com AMZN shares tumbled 10.65 percent to $320.43 after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter. For the third quarter, Amazon projected sales of $19.7 billion to $21.5 billion. Analysts at B Riley downgraded Amazon from Buy to Neutral and lowered the target price from $425 to $350.

Informatica INFA was down, falling 13.68 percent to $30.15 after the company reported quarterly results and lowered its FY14 earnings forecast. Baird downgraded Informatica from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $45.00 to $36.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.93 percent to $101.12, while gold traded up 0.30 percent to $1,296.60.

Silver traded up 0.32 percent Friday to $20.48, while copper fell 0.28 percent to $3.26.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.25 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.53 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.41 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.63 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 1.01 percent while UK shares fell 0.20 percent.

Economics

Orders for durable goods increased 0.7% in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5% gain.