Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; JC Penney Reports Narrower-Than-Expected Q3 Loss

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.31% to 27,865.12 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 8,511.75. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.29% to 3,105.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RadNet, Inc. RDNT, up 15%, and Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. MTNB, up 12%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

J C Penney Company Inc JCP reported narrower-than-expected loss for its third quarter.

JC Penney reported third-quarter losses of $0.30 per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate for a loss of $0.55 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.5 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.51 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Farfetch Limited FTCH shares shot up 29% to $9.62 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Plus Therapeutics, Inc. PSTV got a boost, shooting up 24% to $2.9550 following Q3 results. Plus Therapeutics reversed from a loss of $27.63 per share in the third quarter of 2018 to a profit of 3 cents per share in the third quarter of 2019.

RadNet, Inc. RDNT shares were also up, gaining 15% to $18.28 after the company announced it would replace Gannett Co in the S&P SmallCap 600 starting November 20th, 2019.

Equities Trading DOWN

resTORbio, Inc. TORC shares tumbled 82% to $1.40 after the company disclosed that its Phase 3 PROTECTOR 1 trial of RTB101 did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Limbach Holdings, Inc. LMB were down 39% to $2.8149 after the company announced weak Q3 earnings.

Anchiano Therapeutics Ltd ANCN was down, falling 38% to $1.40 after the company reported Q3 results and disclosed that it has discontinued Phase 2 Codex study of inodiftagene vixteplasmid in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $56.68, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,465.20.

Silver traded down 1.1% Friday to $16.835, while copper rose 0.6% to $2.638.

Euro zone


European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.2%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4% while UK shares fell 0.3%.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase.

The New York Empire State manufacturing index fell to 2.9 in November, versus prior reading of 4. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 5.

US import prices declined 0.5% in October, versus a revised 0.1% increase in the prior month. Export prices fell 0.1% in October, versus a 0.2% drop in the previous month.

U.S. industrial production fell 0.8% for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4% decline.

U.S. business inventories were unchanged for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% rise.

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