Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Cowen Group Surges After Q1 Results; FuelCell Energy Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 20,938.43 while the NASDAQ declined 0.07 percent to 6,044.95. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21 percent to 2,383.87.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Align Technology, Inc. ALGN and Aaron's, Inc. AAN.

In trading on Friday, financial shares slipped by 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Greenhill & Co., Inc. GHL, down 11 percent, and SVB Financial Group SIVB, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.

Amazon.com said it earned $1.48 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $35.7 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.13 per share on revenue of $35.30 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Bancorp Inc TBBK shares shot up 28 percent to $6.47 after the company reported strong earnings for its fourth quarter.

Shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. ZEUS got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $22.55. Olympic Steel reported a Q1 net income of $7.7 million, after posting a loss in the year-ago period.

Cowen Group Inc COWN shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $15.80 after the company posted upbeat Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

FuelCell Energy Inc FCEL shares dropped 33 percent to $1.08. FuelCell Energy priced its $15.4 million underwritten public offering of common stock and warrants.

Shares of Vince Holding Corp VNCE were down around 41 percent to $0.800. Vince Holding reported a Q4 loss of $162.1 million on revenue of $63.9 million.

Transenterix Inc TRXC was down, falling around 38 percent to $0.681. TransEnterix reported the pricing of $24.9 million public offering of common stock and warrant.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.33 percent to $49.13 while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,268.00.

Silver traded down 0.43 percent Friday to $17.26, while copper rose 0.48 percent to $2.6055.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.30 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.08 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.46 percent.

Economics

U.S. GDP rose at an annual pace of 0.7 percent for the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.2 percent growth.

The employment cost index increased 0.8 percent for the first quarter.

The Chicago PMI rose to 58.30 in April, versus a prior reading of 57.70. Economists expected a reading of 56.40.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 97.00 in April, versus a prior reading of 98.00. Economists were expecting a reading of 98.00.