Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Gains Over 2%; Expedia Shares Slide On Downbeat Earnings

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 23,434.09 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.09 percent to 6,693.54. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.80 percent to 2,580.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the technology shares climbed by 3.37 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, up 13 percent, and Power Integrations Inc POWI, up 12 percent.

In trading on Friday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell 0.61 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Expedia Inc EXPE, down 18 percent, and J C Penney Company Inc JCP down 16 percent.

Top Headline

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

Amazon’s turned in earnings of 52 cents per share, the same EPS as last year's third quarter. Sales came in at $43.7 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $42.14 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Shineco Inc TYHT shares shot up 20 percent to $3.33 after the company reported a deal to market authorized products of Daiso to distribute on JD.com.

Shares of First Solar, Inc. FSLR got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $57.35 after a big earnings beat in the third quarter. The company also raised FY 2017 guidance. Needham upgraded First Solar from Hold to Buy.

FARO Technologies, Inc. FARO shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $46.75 as the company posted strong Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

PhaseRx Inc PZRX shares dropped 36 percent to $0.620 as the company disclosed that it has received delisting notice from the NASDAQ.

Shares of Electronics For Imaging, Inc. EFII were down 30 percent to $29.30 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results. William Blair downgraded Electronics for Imaging from Outperform to Market Perform.

Expedia Inc EXPE was down, falling around 18 percent to $120.54 after the company posted weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter on Thursday. Third-quarter sales came in at $2.51, missing estimates by $0.11. Sales were $2.96 billion, $14 million shy of estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.05 percent to $53.72 while gold traded up 0.15 percent to $1,271.50.

Silver traded down 0.54 percent Friday to $16.72, while copper fell 2.56 percent to $3.096.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.55 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.62 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.71 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.25 percent.

Economics

The U.S economy expanded at an annual rate of 3 percent in the third quarter, beating economists’ expectations for a 2.5 percent growth.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 100.70 for October, versus prior reading of 101.10. Economists were projecting a reading of 100.90.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 737 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.