Mid-Afternoon Market Update: KEYW Drops Following Disappointing Q3 Results; Varonis Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 23,548.49 while the NASDAQ gained 0.52 percent to 6,749.96. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23 percent to 2,585.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.67 percent.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.39 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Financial Engines Inc FNGN, down 25 percent, and CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. CBL down 24 percent.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

The tech giant posted quarterly EPS of $2.07, beating estimates by 20 cents. Sales came in at $52.6 billion, topping estimates by $1.81 billion. Apple issued first-quarter sales guidance of $84-$87 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Insignia Systems, Inc. ISIG shares shot up 40 percent to $1.91 after the company reported Q3 net income of $451,000, or $0.04 per share, versus a year-ago net loss of $167,000, or $0.01 per share.

Shares of Boot Barn Holdings Inc BOOT got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $9.95 after the company posted better-than-expected Q2 results and raised its FY 2018 forecast.

Varonis Systems Inc VRNS shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $51.05 as the company posted better-than-expected Q3 results and issued a strong FY17 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

The Rubicon Project Inc RUBI shares dropped 41 percent to $2.05 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results.

Shares of KEYW Holding Corp. KEYW were down 34 percent to $5.09 after the company posted weaker-than-expected Q3 results and lowered its FY17 sales forecast.

GenMark Diagnostics, Inc GNMK was down, falling around 34 percent to $4.79 as the company posted downbeat Q3 results. Raymond James downgraded GenMark Diagnostics from Outperform to Market Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.26 percent to $54.68 while gold traded down 0.79 percent to $1,268.00.

Silver traded down 1.91 percent Friday to $16.81, while copper fell 0.94 percent to $3.114.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.07 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.20 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.26 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.01 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.06 percent.

Economics

U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs for October. However, economists were expecting a gain of 310,000 nonfarm jobs. Unemployment declined to 4.1 percent versus 4.2 percent.

U.S. trade deficit increased 1.7 percent to $43.5 billion in September, compared to $42.8 billion in August. However, economists projected a $43.3 billion deficit.

U.S. Markit services PMI slipped to 55.30 for October, versus prior reading of 55.90. Economists expected a reading of 55.90.

The ISM non-manufacturing index gained to 60.10 in October, versus previous reading of 59.80. Economists estimated a reading of 58.50.

U.S. factory orders rose 1.4 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.3 percent gain.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 8 to 729 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.