Mid-Day Market Update: NASDAQ Falls 0.35%; Alibaba Shares Surge


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.13 percent to 17,289.20 while the NASDAQ dropped 0.35 percent to 4,577.47. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,010.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCK OR CRYPTO

Enter your email and you'll also get Benzinga's ultimate morning update AND a free $30 gift card and more!

In trading on Friday, utilities shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.47 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Enbridge (NYSE: ENB), up 2.8 percent, and NiSource (NYSE: NI), up 1.9 percent.

Basic materials shares fell 0.64 percent on Friday. Top losers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF), down 4.7 percent, and Thompson Creek Metals Company (NYSE: TC), off 4.4 percent.

Top Headline

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) reported downbeat fiscal first-quarter results and unexpectedly shuffled its top management.

Founder Lawrence J. Ellison stepped aside as CEO and will serve as company’s chairman, while presidents Safra A. Catz and Mark V. Hurd were named co-chief executives. The company also boosted its existing buyback program by an additional $13 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) shares shot up 17.99 percent to $127.19 after the company agreed to be acquired by SAP (NYSE: SAP) subsidiary, SAP America, for $129 per share.

Shares of Dresser-Rand Group (NYSE: DRC) got a boost, shooting up 10.86 percent to $80.96 on report of $85 per share bid from Siemens (OTC: SIEGY).


Want Private Access to Benzinga Analyst?

Check out the latest strategies our team of experts are using every week so that you can always adapt to the market like the pros!—Get FULL Access to This Week's Webinar Here.


Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA) shares were also up, gaining 41.68 percent to $96.34. Alibaba priced its initial public offering of 320,106,100 American depositary shares, each representing one of its ordinary shares, at a price to the public of US$68 per ADS.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) were down 5 percent to $57.63. Red Hat reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its FY15 forecast.

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) shares tumbled 3.94 percent to $74.30 after the company’s subsidiary, SAP America, announced its plans to buy Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) for $129 per share.

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) was down, falling 4.87 percent to $39.53 after the company reported downbeat fiscal first-quarter results and unexpectedly shuffled its top management. Analysts at Deutsche Bank downgraded Oracle from Buy to Hold and lowered the target price from $48 to $42.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.11 percent to $92.04, while gold traded down 0.73 percent to $1,218.00.

Silver traded down 2.74 percent Friday to $18.01, while copper fell 0.11 percent to $3.09.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.36 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.51 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.53 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.22 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.13 percent while UK shares gained 0.52 percent.

Economics

The Conference Board's index of leading indicators rose 0.20% in August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.40% gain.


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Posted In: EarningsNewsGuidanceEurozoneFuturesCommoditiesM&ATop StoriesEconomicsMarkets