Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Lululemon Beats Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.26 percent to 22,004.87 while the NASDAQ declined 0.02 percent to 6,427.26. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 2,475.82.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.59 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Orchids Paper Products Company TIS, up 16 percent, and BRF SA (ADR) BRFS, up 3 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.15 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, down 3 percent, and Pampa Energia S.A. (ADR) PAM down 1.5 percent.

Top Headline

Lululemon Athletica inc. LULU reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY17 outlook.

Lululemon posted quarterly earnings of $0.36 per share on revenue of $581.1 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.35 per share on revenue of $567.6 million.

lululemon now expects FY17 adjusted earnings of $2.35 to $2.42 per share, versus earlier forecast of $2.28 to $2.38 per share. The company now projects sales of $2.545 billion to $2.595 billion, compared to earlier outlook of $2.53 billion to $2.58 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc IOVA shares shot up 11 percent to $6.40 as the company disclosed that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation for LN-144.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $146.83 after the company posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and announced the retirement of its Chief Financial Officer Steffan Tomlinson.

Lululemon Athletica inc. LULU shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $61.94 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY17 outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ambarella Inc AMBA shares dropped 22 percent to $42.32. Ambarella reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Thursday. Craig-Hallum downgraded Ambarella from Buy to Hold.

Shares of Tech Data Corp TECD were down 19 percent to $89.30. Tech Data posted downbeat earnings for its second quarter, while sales exceeded estimates. The company also issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

MacroGenics Inc MGNX was down, falling around 8 percent to $17.32 after the company reported termination of duvortuxizumab collaboration and license deal with J&J's Janssen Biotech.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.25 percent to $47.11 while gold traded up 0.20 percent to $1,324.90.

Silver traded up 0.14 percent Friday to $17.60, while copper rose 0.16 percent to $3.1035.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.52 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.43 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.77 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.85 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.87 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.40 percent.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for August will be released today.

The U.S. economy added 156,000 new jobs in August, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent. However, economists were expecting a gain of 180,000 nonfarm jobs.

The Markit manufacturing PMI declined to 52.8 for August, from a reading of 53.3 in July.

The ISM manufacturing index surged to 58.8 in August, compared to 56.3 in July. However, economists expected a reading of 56.8.

U.S. construction spending dropped 0.6 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.6 percent growth.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 96.8 in August, versus a preliminary reading of 97.6. Economists projected a reading 97.4.

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