Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Surges 6%; Gap Shares Drop Following March Sales Figures

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.74 percent to 17,672.08 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.71 percent to 4,883.12. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.80 percent to 2,058.25.

On Friday, energy shares gained by 2.78 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included

, up 14 percent, and

, up 16 percent. In trading on Friday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares slipped by 0.22 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 12 percent, and

, down 13 percent.

reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter on Thursday. Ruby Tuesday also announced its Chief Financial Officer Jill Golder will be resigning after three years with the company. The restaurants operator and franchisor posted Q3 EPS of $0.03, missing estimates by $0.02. Revenue of $271.47 million also fell $12.67 million short of expectations. Ruby Tuesday also lowered its top and bottom line fiscal year 2016 outlook.

shares shot up 19 percent to $18.43 after the company agreed to be acquired by

for $18.50 per share. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $16.84 after notable activist investment firm Starboard Value disclosed it has taken a 9.8 percent stake in the company.

shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $21.70 as the company reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

shares dropped 40 percent to $1.16 after the company priced 7.5 million share offering at $1.25 per share. Shares of

were down 32 percent to $3.78 after the company reported a worse-than-expected fourth quarter print and announced a CEO change.

was down, falling around 13 percent to $24.22 after the company reported a 6 percent drop in its same-store sales for March 2016, versus to a 2 percent gain during the same period last year. The company saw net sales for the five-week period ended April 2 fall around 6.5 percent on a year-over-year basis to $1.43 billion.

In commodity news, oil traded up 6.07 percent to $39.52 while gold traded up 0.28 percent to $1,241.00. Silver traded up 1.10 percent Friday to $15.33, while copper rose 0.51 percent to $2.09.

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 1.26 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.95 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index surged 3.76 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 1.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 1.61 percent, while U.K. shares rose 1.25 percent.

U.S. wholesale inventories dropped 0.5 percent for February, versus a 0.2 percent decline in January.