Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.5%; Navistar Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 1.46% to 28438.48 while the NASDAQ fell 1.15% to 9191.57. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.29% to 3241.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Adient plc ADNT, up 31%, and Workhorse Group Inc. WKHS, up 21%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 3%.

Top Headline

Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views. The company also issued weak earnings forecast for 2020.

Caterpillar reported quarterly earnings of $2.63 per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.37. The company reported quarterly sales of $13.1 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $13.41 billion.

Caterpillar sees 2020 EPS of $8.50-$10 versus the $10.63 estimate.


Equities Trading UP

Navistar International Corporation NAV shares shot up 55% to $37.25. Volkswagen's TRATON SE truck unit late Thursday offered $2.9 billion, or $35 a share in cash, for the 83% of Navistar International it does not already own.

Shares of Vaxart, Inc. VXRT got a boost, shooting up 43% to $1.04 after the company announced the initiation of a coronavirus vaccine program.

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNDX shares were also up, gaining 35% to $8.97. Syndax reported a $35 million common stock offering and $30 million term sheet for loan with Hercules Capital.

Equities Trading DOWN

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. WWE shares tumbled 22% to $48.56 after the company announced the Co-Presidents, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, will depart the company. WWE also downgraded its expectations for adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to $180 million, from an earlier forecast of $190 million.

Shares of Intec Pharma Ltd. NTEC were down 34% to $0.305 after the company priced its 16.25 million share public offering at $0.40 per share.

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. BZH was down, falling 21% to $13.68 after reporting Q1 results. Wedbush downgraded Beazer Homes USA from Outperform to Neutral.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $51.37, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,591.10.

Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $18.025, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.5195.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.06%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.07%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2.19% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.22%, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.08% while UK shares fell 1.42%.

Economics

U.S. personal spending increased 0.3% in December, versus a 0.4% growth in November. Personal income rose 0.2% in December, versus a revised 0.4% gain in November.

The employment cost index rose 0.7% for the fourth quarter.

The Chicago PMI fell 5.3 points to a reading of 42.9 in January.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to 99.8 in January, versus a preliminary reading of 99.1 and compared to 99.3 in December.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.