Mid-Aternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.5%; Citi Trends Shares Rise On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 20,874.86 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.18 percent to 5,849.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 2,368.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose 0.67 percent in trading on Friday.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.16 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Federated National Holding Co FNHC, down 11 percent, and Gain Capital Holdings Inc GCAP, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Genesco Inc. GCO posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Genesco reported Q4 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $2.15 per share on revenue of $883 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.78 per share on revenue of $901.4 million.

Equities Trading UP

Citi Trends, Inc. CTRN shares shot up 16 percent to $19.38 after the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings.

Shares of Internap Corp INAP got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $2.97 on strong quarterly results. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Internap from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $2.00 to $5.50.

Willdan Group, Inc. WLDN shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $32.63. Willdan Group reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.18 per share on revenue of $57.4 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Finisar Corporation FNSR shares dropped 21 percent to $27.46 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued disappointing forecast for the current quarter.

Shares of TearLab Corp TEAR were down around 25 percent to $3.55. Tearlab reported a Q4 loss of $0.81 per share on revenue of $7.121 million. The company also disclosed that it has begun process to explore strategic alternatives.

Ocera Therapeutics Inc OCRX was down, falling around 26 percent to $1.40. Ocera Therapeutics reported a Q4 loss of $0.22 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5 percent to $48.51 while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,201.80.

Silver traded down 0.53 percent Friday to $16.95, while copper rose 0.68 percent to $2.60.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.45 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.24 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.38 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 235,000 new jobs in February, while the unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent. Economists were expecting a gain of 200,000 jobs.

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

The U.S. government posted a budget deficit of $192 billion in February, versus a $193 billion deficit in the year-ago period, according to the Treasury Department.